Diana Goovaerts

The Five Nine takes an in-depth look at an interesting question: “What is broadband without affordability?” The United States government is poised to spend more than $42 billion on broadband expansions across the country in a quest to bring internet connectivity to every citizen. But the recent collapse of the government’s Affordable Connectivity Program—which provided monthly subsidies to help eligible citizens pay for their broadband service—has raised a critical question.

Phenomenal cosmic power—that’s what it’ll take to support the data center demand of the future thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and its required compute power. There’s only one problem, according to Brian Janous, cofounder of data center siting startup Cloverleaf Infrastructure: not many folks in the industry have a good understanding of the challenges and limitations energy utility companies face when it comes to powering data centers.

As with every U.S. election in recent memory, 2024’s is turning out to be a bit of a rollercoaster ride. We took a dive into how a Trump Federal Communications Commission (FCC) might look and act different from a Harris FCC, and what issues each might run into. 

You’ve heard the grand declarations from telecommunications companies over the past few years. "We’re not telcos anymore," they’ve said, "we’re techcos." But what’s so bad about being a telco?Techco, of course, is short for "technology company." The idea is that telcos are evolving beyond their roots as simple connectivity providers and turning into services companies. The underlying implication here is that connectivity is becoming a utility, just like water or electric service.

First, cable and fiber companies dismissed fixed wireless access (FWA) completely. Then, they passed it off as a temporary fad. Subscribers, they said, will return to their wireline providers when wireless bandwidth inevitably runs out.

Tracking broadband funding awards as they happen. In January 2024:

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is in grave danger. According to estimates from the Federal Communications Commission, the program will run out of money in April. A wave of sudden disconnects associated with the program’s end could hit ISPs hard. But just how much exposure do they have? And do they have any plans in place to keep vulnerable customers connected? We took the subscriber question straight to the big guns and asked what plans they have for keeping subscribers connected in a post-ACP world. Here’s what they told us (and what we could dig up).

The US Broadband Summit brought together top leaders from across the country to talk about state efforts related to the Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) program. Three major topics emerged from the summit — both at public sessions as well as the buzz in the hallways.

Preparation. PON. Previous experience. Persistence. These are just some of the attributes states should be looking for when choosing ISPs to carry out builds for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, said Verizon executive Kevin Smith. “The ISPs and the builders also have to have those people and those teams internally that are making sure that you’re delivering what you signed up for,” he said. “Whatever you agreed to in that bid, you need all that program management. It’s not just about hanging the fiber.

Tachus Fiber, with help from private equity partner Crosstimbers Capital Group, is set to spend $100 million to expand its footprint in the Houston (TX) metropolitan area. The company has the aim of adding 100,000 passings in southwest Houston by the end of 2025.