December 2021

The Jasper (TX) City Council voted to go forward with its plans to go into the broadband internet business. The move came following a decision earlier in 2021 to award Kramer Services Group of Weyerhaeuser (WI) $450,000 to study the issue and develop a plan for its implementation within the city. Kramer representative Brandon Wright said plans were for the system to be completely underground from one end of town to the other offering up to 1 gig of upload and download speed at prices between $75 and up depending on the speed the customer required.

A group working to expand broadband internet services across rural Vermont says there will be at least 2,000 miles (over 3,200 kilometers) of fiber optic cable ready for installation during the 2022 construction season. Christine Hallquist, executive director the Vermont Community Broadband Board, announced Monday that three groups were working together to provide 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of cable. NEK Broadband, the state’s largest communication union district, has arranged to buy another 1,000 miles of cable, Hallquist said.

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) and NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association plan to publish a playbook to assist state governments as they receive broadband funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The $42.5 billion that is dedicated to broadband will flow through a new program called Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD).