Broadband

Plus, more about Kansas' $15 million of federal funding for digital equity; U.S. senators reintroduce digital equity legislation, $180 for digital equity heading to libraries, and more.

The next generation of Internet is being deployed in communities across Houston and nearby rural areas. In Lake Houston, providers such as Tachus and Comcast are already installing equipment to bring 10G to the area.

The college will use funding from the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to help Latino and low-income students in remote and hybrid learning.

Even as digital inclusion was celebrating a peak in interest, long-time practitioners in the space were preparing for what comes next and stressing the importance of thinking sustainability.

Raimondo stressed that the federal government needs local digital inclusion practitioners to help it bridge the digital divide, making a trip to San Antonio specifically for the event.

An official from the U.S. Treasury Department says that 20 other states have applied for similar funding, and more announcements are coming, “to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.”

A public tribal land-grant community college in Minnesota will use federal grant money to upgrade Internet service and security, learning software and computers, and provide service plans for students on and off campus.

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are working to avert the loss of the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to auction the radio waves used for broadcast television, mobile phone and broadband services.

Ohio digital inclusion advocates are working hard to make sure that rural communities in the state have the best weapon for getting high-speed Internet — communities that know Internet matters.

Plus, Colorado launches a statewide program to get more people signed up for the Affordable Connectivity Program; Georgia is announcing expanded broadband funding; Connecticut suffers an Internet outage; and more.

A coalition of education advocacy groups have asked the FCC to allow schools to use federal E-rate funding to strengthen their IT security infrastructure amid an onslaught of cyber attacks targeting the education sector.

The USDA grant will cover about 75 percent of the expansion costs with the provider investing the remainder to expand its all-fiber optic to approximately 3,500 locations across three underserved counties.

If Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have their way, any broadband company that wants to use federal money to provide service in rural areas must be screened very carefully.

A new report commissioned by the Maine Connectivity Authority said the state is already expected to have a shortfall of 3,240 workers in broadband jobs. The figure casts a shadow on the goal of connecting every part of the state.

Plus, more states are holding in-person events to stoke citizen participation in their connectivity work, President Biden's long-delayed fifth FCC commissioner nominee gets a hearing, and more.

Seventy one percent of households in the county have access to broadband Internet service. Officials want that number to be even higher, despite the substantial costs associated with the buildout.

Plus, the Rural Broadband Association submits a list of priorities to the new Congress; the Department of Defense and NTIA host a 5G challenge; the Texas Library Commission is collecting data about Internet speeds; and more!

In an effort to bridge the digital divide, library officials will be handing out hot spots, tablets and laptops. The devices were paid for by a $548,100 grant from the Federal Communications Commission.