The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Michigan received its first “Internet for All” grants for deploying high-speed Internet networks and developing digital skills training programs under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative.
The Federal Communications Commission is committing over $65 million in new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Program (ECP), which provides digital services for students in communities across the country.
This summer, the mountains moved in Hoopa Valley (CA). As a wildfire burned through trees and vegetation, a thunderstorm dropped two inches of rain in one day. Meanwhile, online, residents were clamoring to Facebook to learn what had happened. Others started to email Frank, who serves as a youth coordinator with Save California Salmon and Miss Na:tini-we’, a cultural and political ambassador for the Hoopa Valley Tribe.
Color Of Change, Free Press Action and MediaJustice urged the Senate to confirm Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during the final days of the 117th Congress. "We are deeply concerned that antisemitic, homophobic, and racist smears against Sohn have contributed to the inaction of the Senate on her confirmation.
A group of vendors has been working on a CBRS private wireless network for a school in an underprivileged area of Sacramento, California, for a couple of years. And as a result of their trial, the Sacramento City Council recently approved $1.4 million in funding to create a permanent private 5G network for the school and two public housing communities in the city. The vendors involved in the project include Athonet, Federated Wireless, Intel, JMA Wireless, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Megh Computing, and Future Technologies Venture.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is clear: the $42.5 billion for broadband buildout should prioritize projects for the unserved. Specifically, states should prioritize projects where 80% of the locations served by the project are unserved. It may be impossible to reach all the unserved with projects that are 80% or more unserved without gerrymandering the project areas or changing the rules. Census block groups work well as a proxy for broadband project areas because they’re not too big and not too small.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) to award $67.6 million in broadband grants across the state. It further accelerates the Border-to-Border program in pursuit of Minnesota's 2026 goal that all homes and businesses have access to broadband with download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 20 megabits per second. Eligible broadband providers can use grant funding to reimburse up to half the cost of broadband infrastructure deployed. Applications must be received by March 2, 2023.
Top cable industry analyst Craig Moffett issued a report with a provocative title, asking, “Is cable a good business?” Clearly, MoffettNathanson’s principal and senior analyst believes Wall Street doesn’t think so.
Hopefully, the word is getting out that individuals can challenge the Federal Communications Commission's new National Broadband Map. Broadband providers often claim coverage and broadband speeds that are not actually available. The challenge process is built directly into the FCC broadband map. Anybody can zero in on the map and see the broadband options that providers say are available at their location. If you challenge any of these items for a given provider, the FCC will forward your challenge to said provider.
Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will have plenty of telecommunications issues on their plate as the country heads into 2023. Tax breaks for grant funding; ReConnect reform; Pole attachment problems; and perhaps even net neutrality – again. But New Street Research’s Blair Levin said a handful of truly pressing policy issues appear poised to be decided by the states and courts. According to Levin, a recent ruling by the Supreme Court in the West Virginia v.
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