AT&T recently announced multi-gigabit broadband plans on its fiber connections. The company has priced 2-Gbps broadband at $110 per month and 5-Gbps broadband at $180. AT&T isn’t the first company to offer multi-gigabit broadband speeds and joins other large internet service providers (ISPs). For now, multi-gigabit broadband is mostly a marketing gimmick. It’s a way for an ISP to tell the public that its networks are fast.
Anderson County (SC) is not one of the most broadband-deprived areas of the state. In Anderson County’s municipal areas, internet customers are moving along at high (or at least, moderate) speed. Still, thousands of households and scores of businesses suffer the frustrations of slow internet service. The majority of the county benefits from moderate broadband speeds with pockets close to the city of Anderson and Greenville County seeing even faster access.
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced exciting, new Transform Howard projects that will make remarkable progress in closing the digital divide in Howard County (MD) with broadband expansion to 85 percent of currently unserved households. Ball detailed three projects to implement public Wi-Fi and broadband in Elkridge to 100 households and expand broadband access in Western Howard County to 462 households.
For many months during the pandemic, Americans were forced to function remotely and were dependent upon internet access to stay connected with work or school. Those who lacked quality access fell behind. With recent passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act, $65 billion in federal funds will be used to expand broadband infrastructure to underserved communities across the US.
Bringing rapid innovation and increased diversity and competition to mobile services is a national imperative. To accomplish this goal, the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS)—the research and engineering arm of the US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)—is encouraging the evolution of open and interoperable 5G networks through the 5G Challenge. The goal of the 5G Challenge is to accelerate the development and widespread deployment of open and interoperable 5G networks with true plug-and-play operation.
The Fiber Broadband Association announced that in partnership with NTCA –The Rural Broadband Association, the two groups have released the Broadband Infrastructure Playbook, a comprehensive guide designed to assist state broadband offices to best leverage federal funds available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
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