The Future of Universal Service is Still in the Future
Friday, August 19, 2022
August 2022
Analysis
Analysis
Local Telecommunications Companies Win Broadband Public-Private Partnerships with Texas County
Public private broadband partnerships (PPPs) are in full swing.
The National Urban League will host a webinar for its affiliates and partners about the historic broadband funding that will be made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). This webinar will feature representatives from NTIA, the FCC, the public interest community, and industry and will help our Urban League movement learn about how to get involved in state broadband planning, opportunities for Affordable Connectivity Program outreach, and advocacy strategies for closing the digital divide.
Biden-Harris Administration Awards Nearly $50 Million to Expand High-Speed Internet Access on Tribal Land in Mississippi, Oklahoma
The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded $49,112,883.26 in funds from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 to tribes in two states. The awards will provide funds for high-speed internet infrastructure deployment projects through the Internet for All Initiative’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians of Mississippi and the Osage Nation of Oklahoma. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians will receive $8,433,633.26 to install fiber to connect 2,190 unserved Native American hou
FTC sued by firm allegedly selling sensitive data on abortion clinic visits (Ars Technica)
Submitted by dclay@benton.org on Thu, 08/18/2022 - 16:28Rural ISPs struggling to meet FCC mapping deadline
Small broadband providers in the rural US are scrambling to meet a September 1 deadline to submit coverage data to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or risk being locked out of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program (BEAD). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel opened the agency's broadband data collection portal on June 30. The data requested will inform the first draft of a new federal broadband coverage map, which states will then have the opportunity to challenge with their own data.
The CHIPS Act and Wireless
The recently enacted CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 is providing a lot of funding to bring more chip manufacturing back to the US. This funding fills a big hole in the US supply chain. Specifically, the CHIPS legislation: Appropriates $1.5 billion for the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, to spur movement towards open-architecture, software-based wireless technologies, funding innovative, ‘leap-ahead’ technologies in the US mobile broadband market.
Google and Apple's dominance in the web browser market raises questions among antitrust regulators and competitors (Wall Street Journal)
Submitted by dclay@benton.org on Thu, 08/18/2022 - 14:22Wilmington City Council approves $2.5 million in APRA funding for "DigitalBridge" jobs program
Wilmington (NC) City Council unanimously approved spending $2.5 million from federal COVID recovery funds on an employment program to connect residents to tech and digital industry jobs. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds will help provide digital skills training and job placement services, focusing on what the city calls “high opportunity, high need” census tracts around the city. Wilmington expects that over 17,000 jobs added in the region between 2020 and 2023 will require 'digital skills.' The program, called Digital Bridge Wilmington, is expected to launch early in 2023.