1. Monthly archive
  2. March 2023

March 2023

Baltimore’s redlining legacy has lasting impact, residents tell FCC

Representatives of the Federal Communications Commission visited Baltimore to hear about residents’ experience of digital discrimination in the city. Some said the city’s past continues to affect technology access today. Some residents told the FCC that the city’s majority-Black population is concentrated in areas where internet service is slow. Others said multi-generational households often lack the funds to pay for high-speed internet service.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo Announces Fiber Manufacturing Expansions in North Carolina

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) requires the use of Made-in-America materials and products for federally funded infrastructure projects including high-speed Internet deployment in America. As a result, two key manufacturers near Hickory, North Carolina, announced new investments and partnerships. CommScope and Corning are investing a combined nearly $550 million and creating hundreds of new jobs in America to build the fiber optic cables that will help close the digital divide. CommScope announced an additional $47 million investment towards expanding its U.S.

Comcast is Investing $280 Million to Upgrade our Network, Expand Internet Service, and Support Communities in the Pacific Northwest

Comcast’s new Pacific Northwest Region is investing $280 million in 2023 to offer multi-gigabit Internet speeds to more than four million locations, expand broadband and video services to more than 60,000 additional homes and businesses, and provide donations and in-kind services to communities throughout Oregon and Washington. The investment will significantly expand and evolve the availability of the Xfinity 10G Network across the Pacific Northwest in 2023.

Tech experts call for ‘pause’ on advanced AI systems

Elon Musk and more than 1,000 tech researchers and executives have called for a six-month “pause” on the development of advanced artificial intelligence systems such as OpenAI’s GPT to halt what they call a “dangerous” arms race.  An open letter by the Future of Life Institute, a non-profit campaign group, had been signed by more than 1,100 individuals from across academia and the tech industry within hours of its publication. “Recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one — not even their creators — can u

Lumen expects to pick up its fiber build pace in 2024

Lumen Technologies is hoping to grease the wheels on its fiber build in 2023 after pressing pause on its work late in 2022 and is aiming to exit the year having achieved a quarterly build pace that will allow it to exceed 500,000 new passings in 2024. The operator was originally planning to reach 1.5 million to 2 million locations this year as part of a plan to expand its footprint to 12 million locations over the coming years.

BEAD Funding Could Enable Frontier Builds Outside Footprint, But Focus Will be Home Turf

Frontier Communications is “very excited” about the possibility of using Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding to deploy fiber broadband to areas that aren’t currently part of the company’s plan to have fiber available to 10 million locations by 2025, said Chief Strategy Officer Vishal Dixit. He declined to say how many locations might be eligible for funding in the $42.5 billion BEAD program.

Transcelestial creates laser wireless with 25 Gbps speeds

Singapore-based startup Transcelestial invented a laser communications technology that uses infrared spectrum to connect under-served people around the world to the internet. “The cost to connect the world is not commercially viable if upgrades depend on the rollout of new fiber cables,” said Mohammad Danesh, co-founder and CTO of Transcelestial. The company’s Centauri 25G product delivers 25 Gbps internet connectivity via laser beam, eliminating the need for underground cables or radio frequency-based devices.

With billions of dollars on the line, East Texans say a crucial state map incorrectly shows they already have broadband

Thousands of East Texans are part of a petition challenging the accuracy of the Texas Broadband Development Map that shows internet availability and speeds across the state.

© 1994-2024 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.