Reps Kat Cammack (R-FL) and Jim Costa (D-CA) led a letter with their colleagues to urge US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Vilsack to ensure the ReConnect Pilot Program serves rural America and the underserved communities that need it most.
Verizon’s deployment of mid-band spectrum for 5G is delivering boosts to download speeds for users connected to C-band, according to new analysis from Opensignal – getting the carrier closer as it works to catch up to speed leader T-Mobile. Verizon and AT&T both started activating C-band spectrum in the 3.7 GHz range on January 19.
Regional utility districts formed among multiple towns or municipal entities represent one of several emerging frameworks for providing broadband service to unserved or underserved areas, particularly in more rural parts of the country. Historically, such utility districts have been formed to build out infrastructure and provide essential services.
Investor-owned utilities, typically large, publicly-traded electricity distributors, can play a critical role in bringing broadband services to rural and underserved areas by allowing providers to use their existing infrastructure to provide the middle mile network for making high-speed internet connections. Rural areas present a challenge for broadband providers: These regions tend to be more costly and less profitable to serve than densely populated urban and suburban areas. Connecting rural communities requires middle and last-mile networks.
State policymakers have increasingly sought new solutions to improve the availability of broadband, including allowing electric cooperatives to offer service, the formation of regional utility districts to provide broadband, and the use of investor-owned utilities to improve the availabili
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