Joan Engebretson

Facebook and MCNC, the non-profit operator of the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) are “co-investing” to build a high-speed fiber network interconnecting the rural North Carolina communities of Dobson and Forest City. The latter community is home to a huge data center owned by Facebook. MCNC provides backbone connectivity throughout large portions of North Carolina, including areas where it’s difficult to make a business case for fiber deployment.

At least two rural service provider groups have voiced opposition to the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to add a new 50/5 Mbps speed tier to the bidding categories for the proposed Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Both NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) argue that adding the new speed tier creates two speed tiers that are below the average broadband speed already experienced in urban areas. The FCC is scheduled to vote Jan 30 on whether to adopt the RDOF order.

Tope broadband stories from 2019:

1. Policymakers wake up to the importance of universal broadband.
2. Full court press put on broadband mapping problems. 
3. Carriers are ultra-competitive over 5G. 
4. Edge computing is hot and should get hotter.
5. Policymakers also wake up to the need for more spectrum. 
6. Windstream files for bankruptcy and Frontier could follow.
7. Fixed wireless gains momentum.
8. Video shakeup continues – with little agreement on where it’s going.

20.5 million US homes are now connected to fiber broadband service, according to new research conducted by RVA for the Fiber Broadband Association. That’s a substantial increase since 2018, when a similar FBA report found 18.4 million US fiber broadband homes. Fiber broadband has been making gains against DSL and fiber-to-the-neighborhood (FTTN). According to the researchers, 2019 was the first year when more US homes received broadband service via fiber than via DSL or FTTN.

Bluebird Networks, operator of a fiber network spanning several Midwestern states, said it has signed an agreement to purchase Illinois Network Alliance (INA), which operates a network in that state. INA is owned by several smaller Illinois telecom service providers. Bluebird already managed INA but according to an announcement of the purchase plans, “this new ownership role will enable Bluebird to strategically expand its capabilities and offerings between INA and other Bluebird infrastructures.” The company said it will expand further into new and underserved areas.

Almost half of US counties face a “double burden” of chronic disease and a need for greater broadband connectivity, according to a new report filed with the Federal Communications Commission. The report comes from an advisory committee that was set up to identify barriers to telehealth and recommend solutions. The majority of “double burden” areas fall into what the report calls “clusters” of five or more counties with total populations exceeding 100,000.

NH legislators in 2019 passed a law allowing municipalities to fund broadband networks through bond offerings – and that action already is spurring broadband deployment in sparsely populated areas of the state. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this is Consolidated Communications. Consolidated is already offering service on a new network in Chesterfield (NH) that was paid for, in part, by Consolidated and, in part, by the city.

As he was researching an upcoming book on rural broadband policy — including reviewing every comment filed with the Federal Communications Commission or the US Department of Agriculture about the 2009 broadband stimulus program, the Broadband Opportunity Council or the USDA E-Connectivity program — Professor Christopher Ali of the University of Virginia realized that he “needed to humanize” the research. Thus began a 4,000-mile rural road trip, in which Ali visited rural broadband providers, state broadband officials and other stakeholders based largely in the Midwest.

USTelecom, which represents large and small incumbent telecommunication companies, including AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink, supported a report that discusses the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The report was written by Tony Clark, a former chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission and past president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and Monica Martinez, a former Michigan public services commissioner. A current concern expressed by the authors pertains specifically to the price cap carriers

Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg said that the company is installing 1400 miles of fiber per month and that it will begin offering multi-access edge computing (MEC) in fourth quarter. Verizon fiber deployments are critical to supporting a mixture of services, Vestberg said. “One part of the whole intelligent edge network was that . . .