Joan Engebretson

Verizon won broadband funding from two Pennsylvania counties recently. Verizon Vice President of Business Operations for Wireline Networks Doug Sullivan offered details about the wins, which are for areas where the company has begun deploying its Fios fiber broadband service. The Pennsylvania awards were for Washington and Westmoreland counties.

America is in the midst of a “rural renaissance,” thanks to unprecedented investment in broadband, said Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association. Every dollar invested in broadband yields four dollars in benefits, said Kathryn de Wit, project director for the Broadband Access Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts which has been closely following state broadband initiatives for several years and was instrumental in reshaping federal po

At a time when state and federal governments are funding numerous broadband deployment projects, Utah’s long-lived broadband map has been a big asset. Utah was more successful than any other state in challenging the locations database for the Federal Communications Commission's broadband map, explained Rebecca Dilg, Director of the Utah Broadband Center. The state is well positioned to determine eligible locations for the upcoming Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, Dilg noted. Utah was one of multiple states that used funding from the 

Twenty-seven states are expected to see larger allocations in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program based on the updated Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Map in comparison with earlier estimates based on older data, according to a new analysis conducted by researchers at Cartesian for provider association ACA Connects. The other 23 states will see less funding, according to the updated estimates.

If provider associations are successful in their advocacy, the next Farm Bill will end the need for ReConnect broadband funding to be reappropriated every year. The ReConnect program covers some of the costs of deploying broadband to unserved areas. Farm bills are an every-five-year occurrence and the current bill is due to expire later in 2023. Fortunately, the farm bill typically has bipartisan support and usually passes both chambers, noted NTCA (The Rural Broadband Association) Director o

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is scheduled to release state funding allocations for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program by the end of June 2023. The allocations will be based on the latest version of the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Map released in late May 2023.

Flume, a service provider operating in New York City, metro Los Angeles, and Connecticut, has a rather unique business model. It offers fiber broadband but has very little fiber infrastructure of its own. “In the metro core, there’s a lot of overbuilt fiber,” said Prashanth Vijay, Flume co-founder and CEO. In some cases, the fiber may have been installed by a utility company, cell tower company, or another entity that doesn’t offer residential broadband.

The next update to the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Map will be released on May 30, said FCC senior officials. The map will reflect availability data reported by providers as of December 31, 2022, as well as challenges made more recently to that data. It’s an important development, as this is the version of the map that will be used for making allocations to states in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

The same day that SpaceX scored a big win on the proper use of spectrum, it became embroiled in a new fight over appropriate spectrum use. The new fight is with AT&T over SpaceX’s plans to enable calls from T-Mobile cellphones via SpaceX satellites. That type of service is called supplemental coverage from space (SCS) and is a market AT&T also is pursuing via a deal with satellite operator AST.

North Dakota ranks as the best-connected state with gigabit broadband availability, according to a new report from Smarthomestarter.com. North Dakota broadband providers offer gigabit service to 60.58% of residential locations in the state — the highest percentage in the nation, according to the research.