Joan Engebretson

Charter has now won $700 million in broadband funding since its big win in the 2018 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction, said Jessica Fischer, the company’s chief financial officer. The funding will go toward buildouts to 300,000 locations, Fischer said. The gross cost of the buildouts for which Charter has won funding will be $1.7 billion, which suggests that Charter will contribute matching funds of about $1 billion for the builds. The buildout cost per passing to Charter will be $3,200, Fischer said. The company completed 68,000 subsidized rural passings this quarter, she noted

Element8, a broadband provider with a focus on fixed wireless access (FWA), made a “transformational” investment in Wisper ISP, another broadband provider with an FWA focus.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced how much Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding each of the 50 states would be allocated. The answer varies from state to state, but one thing they all have in common is that Volume 1 and Volume 2 of their initial proposals are due December 27, 2023. Once NTIA approves the proposal, the state will get 20 percent of its BEAD funding. Volume 1 must include: Existing broadband funding, Unserved and underserved locations, Community anchor institutions, Challenge process plans.

Oregon faces a range of challenges on the route to making broadband available throughout the state, said Nick Batz, director of the Oregon Broadband Office (OBO). “Our biggest challenge is the size of the state,” he said. “We’re roughly the size of the United Kingdom but have six percent of the population.

Declaration Networks deploys fixed wireless access (FWA) to unserved and underserved areas. But as CEO Bob Nichols said, “Most of our networks moving forward will be fiber-to-the-home.” Declaration Networks was one of the first companies to deploy FWA using TV white spaces (TVWS) spectrum and as a participant in Microsoft’s Airband rural broadband deployment program.

If telecommunications providers are required to remove decades-old lead-sheathed cable from their networks, the total bill is likely to be in the range of $4.4 billion to $21 billion, according to a new estimate from New Street Research.

Deployment cost estimates underlying winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) bids are no longer accurate, representatives for a coalition of RDOF winners told FCC officials on July 14. The representatives suggested several possible remedies, including providing additional funding and other ideas. In a letter summarizing the meeting, the coalition cited “massive and unprecedented increases in broadband deployment construction costs . . .

Read the rules for broadband deployment programs such as the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) or Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program and you’ll see a requirement for service providers receiving funding to participate in the low-income Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

When Mike Sanders started his job as Executive Director for the Oklahoma Broadband Office in May 2023, the state’s broadband office had four employees. At the end of June 2023, he expected that number to hit 15. Previously, Director Sanders served six terms in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, where he chaired the House Utilities Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, was vice-chair of the Human Services Committee, and served as House Majority Leader. Prior to that, he worked for President George W.

The state of Tennessee will begin accepting applications in September 2023 for $185 million in grant funding for broadband deployments in unserved and underserved areas.