Broadband & Network
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Plus, new legislation would revive the FCC’s equity council if enacted, a report reveals connectivity gaps in tribal communities, some municipal broadband networks outperform their competitors, and more. -
County commissioners got a revised schedule for federally funded broadband work. Service provider contracts remain to be signed, and construction is slated to wrap by the end of 2029.
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The Trump administration has asserted for months that its “bargain” version of the federal $42.5 billion grant program to expand access to broadband Internet would save taxpayers money.
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The FCC is set to auction $20 billion in rural broadband funding starting in October, but it's still grappling with a problem — its maps showing which places are most in need of the funding are notoriously misleading.
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Lawmakers have scheduled fewer interim committee meetings than normal and have held most virtually. Those developments have made it more difficult to get legislative work done ahead of next year’s session.
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Cambria County commissioners have approved a more than $1 million plan to expand broadband services in the northern part of the county. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need for connectivity.
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Immigrant students often have work commitments outside class, and they may need additional language support. Giving them equal access to technology during remote learning might not be enough.
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According to a report by the Worcester Regional Research Bureau this summer, nearly one-third of Worcester households did not have broadband, while nearly a fifth of all households had no Internet access at all.
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A new article in Telecommunications Policy presents evidence that local areas generally fare better when states award broadband money to providers and allow municipalities to get into the broadband business.
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During a recent National Telecommunications and Information Administration webinar, experts dissected the economic potential of and roadblocks to precision agriculture technology in rural America.
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Workers have started the process of building out the $2.5 million project that officials hope will make high-speed Internet available to every home and business in the city by the end of next year.
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At UT-Rio Grande Valley, administrators spent a tense summer preparing for the fall semester while local coronavirus rates spiked, the area spiraled into further economic depression and debate raged across the nation about how to safely send college students back to school.
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The Reno County Commission has started a preliminary discussion about running its own fiber optic cables to the landfill and Reno County Public Works building, which has a preliminary cost estimate of about $1 million.
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Farmington Electric Utility System is exploring the feasibility of offering high-speed Internet service to city residents. Officials say the service would benefit customers while providing a new revenue stream.
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In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that asked for a report on ongoing and future actions to enhance rural health care. HHS released an 82-page response to the order last week.
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After the district scrambled this summer to provide Internet to families to support its remote learning model, a school panel on Thursday voted to ask city leaders to look into bringing municipal broadband to Worcester.
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It’s troubling to see broadband Internet funding stuck in legislative neutral as the pandemic has created a critical need for strong and widespread Internet connections in Minnesota’s rural areas.
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Pennsylvania Senate Bill 835 creates a government grant program for high-speed broadband Internet providers to expand into rural areas of the state that don’t already have access to reliable networks.
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A recent broadband availability map from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs shows that of the more than 507,000 homes and businesses lacking access to reliable broadband, nearly 70 percent are in rural Georgia.
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The application cycle will close Sept. 17. Applications will be reviewed until funds are exhausted. Grant funds may be used to pay for costs associated with broadband deployment to underserved areas of the state.
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Traverse City, Mich., has agreed to lend $800,000 in economic development funds to the city-owned utility to boost its plans to bring Internet with up to gigabit speeds across a bigger swath of the city.
