1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2022

December 2022

Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Support Authorized for 80 Winning Bids

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), in conjunction with the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), authorized Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) support for the winning bids by GigaBeam Networks in West Virginia, and Pear Networks in Vermont. The support will be disbursed in 120 monthly payments from the Universal Service Fund (USF), which will begin at the end of December 2022.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone on the end of the Congressional session

This markup comes at the end of a tremendously productive Congressional session. Over the last two years, we’ve turned some of the biggest legislative solutions into the law of the land thanks to the hard work of Committee members and staff, and it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as Chairman. The Committee has reported out 76 bills, of which 23 have become law. We passed the most significant climate law in our nation’s history, empowered Medicare to negotiate the cost of lifesaving prescription drugs for seniors, made historic investments to rebuild our nation’s drinking water inf

Republican Social Media Resolution Goes Down in House Commerce Committee

The House Commerce Committee voted 28-23 along party lines not to recommend a Republican-backed resolution of inquiry to the full House.

Public Service Commission Awards Second Round of Grants for Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program

The Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) approved an order (C-5368) awarding 37 grants totaling $20,351,778.01 from the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program (NBBP). During the 2022 grant cycle, the PSC received 115 applications for funding through the NBBP.

Democratic Majority at the FCC Still Blocked

Nearly two years have come and gone without a fifth commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, the agency tasked to regulate the corporate behemoths that control how Americans gather, receive, and transmit information. Almost a year into President Biden’s first term, the White House nominated Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society], a public-interest advocate who served as a top counselor to Obama FCC chair Tom Wheeler.

Telecommunications Workforce: Additional Workers Will Be Needed to Deploy Broadband, but Concerns Exist About Availability

Recent legislation included big increases in federal funding for the deployment of broadband, which is increasingly critical to daily life, but unavailable in some areas. Our analysis found that thousands more skilled workers will be needed to deploy broadband and 5G funded by recent federal programs. If this work is spread over 10 years, the funding would support about 23,000 additional workers at its peak. A shorter timespan could require even more of them. We found mixed evidence on whether there's a shortage of these workers.

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