July 2023

FCC Extends Pause of Lifeline Phase-Out and Mobile Data Increase

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) extended, for an additional year, the waiver pausing both the phase-out of Lifeline support for voice-only services and the increase in Lifeline minimum service standards for mobile broadband data capacity. Without this decision, support for services that meet only the voice minimum service standard, which currently stands at $5.25 per month, would be eliminated in most areas on December 1, 2023.

GigFire, Formerly LTD Broadband, Makes Illinois Acquisition

Fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) provider GigFire has acquired Rural Comm, a service provider headquartered in Farina (IL). GigFire, which now operates in ten Midwestern states, was known as LTD Broadband until earlier in 2023.