Broadband

Plus, New Mexico’s broadband director is retiring, California has a new public broadband services bill and applications are open for the National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s 2023 digital trailblazers program.

With online resources being increasingly necessary for school work, a nation-wide T-Mobile program is offering free Internet connectivity and mobile hotspots to up to 10 million eligible K-12 student households.

A little over a year after becoming head of the state's new broadband division, Director Kelly Schlegel is retiring, with a last day set for the end of this week, the governor’s office has announced.

Experts say communities across the U.S. have made significant progress in efforts to expand Internet access, largely through private-public partnerships and localized initiatives to make broadband affordable to families.

Some $386 million in state funding is set to be distributed to counties throughout the state to expand Internet service. The governor has awarded 56 grants totaling more than $196 million from the Broadband Deployment Fund so far.

Officials are working to bridge the city’s digital divide, bringing data to the fight. They hope a resident survey will help to better understand where the need for broadband service is greatest.

The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians and AT&T held a groundbreaking ceremony this week for a project that will expand access to high-speed Internet service to more than 500 new customers in Valley Center, Calif.

Plus, AT&T is opening a center to support digital equity in Miami, Kansas is the latest state to submit its five-year broadband action plan to the federal government, and more.

The ambitious plans to connect underserved parts of California appear to have been slashed disproportionately, threatening to leave some urban communities, including East Oakland and South Central Los Angeles, further behind.

The latest installment of funding comes on top of $1 billion for Alaska rural broadband projects the White House announced in June, and brings the total investment under the Biden administration to about $2 billion.

The Fiber Smart House is a collaboration between the city of Gary and a national telecommunications development firm. The new facility will include a training space and will be a network operations center and fiber access point for large networks.

The state’s action plan, which was recently adopted by the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority, details efforts needed to make high-speed Internet available universally in five years' time.

The state's Bamberg and Orangeburg counties will receive a combined total of $24 million to expand broadband internet service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Monday.

A portion of the city is too rural for some Internet companies to offer the service, but ironically, not rural enough to be eligible for federal funds to help them gain the service they want.

Since late last year when Starlink Internet became available in Alaska, thousands of residents have signed up at a pace that's exceeding expectations, observers say, even though the signal is not perfect.

This week, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced $162.5 million in federal funding for high-speed Internet infrastructure and community and workforce development projects. The money comes from the American Rescue Plan's Capital Projects Fund.

Officials are asking residents to answer a survey about access to broadband Internet. Information collected will help identify areas where infrastructure does not exist or where service does not meet the minimum speed standards.

During a National Digital Inclusion Alliance webinar last week, experts explored several key tools and dashboards that help make data on the Affordable Connectivity Program more accessible to drive action.