Rhode Island Works to Bring Broadband to All Residents
Friday, August 18, 2023
August 2023
Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest
Austin Bonner named deputy U.S. CTO
Austin Bonner has been promoted to Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Policy. The position builds on her current role at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she focused on a range of telecommunications issues.
Update: The FCC's Enhanced ACAM offer could take up to 1.3 million locations off the board for BEAD
The Federal Communications Commission published its first “illustrative run” of what the offers might be to broadband providers who elect extended subsidies in exchange for agreeing to bring 100/20 broadband to every location in their “study area.” With this illustrative run document, it now appears that if all the ISPs accept the FCC’s offer, 1.3 million locations would be ineligible for BEAD funding because the FCC would have an enforceable commitment from the ISP to bring service to that location.
Even AI Hasn’t Helped Microsoft’s Bing Chip Away at Google’s Search Dominance
When Microsoft unveiled an AI-powered version of Bing in February 2023, the company said it could add $2 billion of revenue if the revamped search engine could pry away even a single point of market share from Google.
A Different Kind of Broadband Investor: Partners Aim to Provide BEAD Matching Funds
Two non-traditional investors are partnering to provide Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) matching funds and to directly invest in broadband for communities that do not win government grants. One of the entities is Connect Humanity, a non-profit fund focused on digital equity.
FCC Announces Second Round of ACP Outreach Grant Program Awards
The Federal Communications Commission announced final funding allocations for the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program (ACP Outreach Grant Program), National Competitive Outreach Program (NCOP) Round 2. The total amount of final funds announced for NCOP Round 2 is over $4.3 million.