Gov Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) signed House Bill 363 establishing the Office of Broadband, creating the broadband parity adjustment fund, and establishing the Statewide Broadband Advisory Board. The bill, introduced by State Representative Bryce Edgmon, carries out recommendations made by Governor Dunleavy’s Task Force on Broadband which was established under Administrative Order No. 322.
Gov Brian Kemp (R-GA) announced the investment of $240 million to support the continued expansion of high-speed internet services to Georgians. These funds will be made available through the Capital Projects Fund Grant Program (CPF). CPF funding will be administered and deployed by the Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) through a competitive grant program, beginning August 15. The CPF program will provide the needed support to build comprehensive broadband networks in many communities struggling with the lack of broadband access.
Cable and telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon have spent a lot of time talking up their ability to bundle fixed and mobile services, touting such offers as a key retention and churn reduction tool. But how much do consumers actually want to bundle their services with a single operator? Recon Analytics founder Roger Enter said bundling is far from a priority for most broadband customers. “People don’t make decisions based on the bundle, but they do make decisions based on performance and price,” he said.
The government’s $42.5 billion plan to expand internet service to underserved communities is stuck in a holding pattern nearly nine months after approval, largely because authorities still don’t know where gaps need to be filled.
In a previous post, I estimated how far the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program broadband funding might go in closing the digital divide. With this updated model, the national story is the same: after you factor in existing funding programs and private capital matches, there is plenty of money in BEAD to reach all of the unserved and reach far into the underserved. Maybe more interesting are the state-level stories.
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