With the federal government shutdown officially thrust upon us, industry experts are opining as to the impact on telecom with most anticipating relatively minimal disruption. The FCC has a plan in place but has furloughed 88 percent of its staff. Those typically associated with telecom will continue focusing on the universal service program and disaster response. At the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency intends to continue its efforts managing spectrum usage and stabilizing the internet domain name system. The NTIA also offered that some of its activities are funded outside of the impacted appropriations and should continue unaffected. Stay tuned.