Kevin Taglang
Recap: Sohn Nomination Hearing III
Gigi Sohn, President Joe Biden's long-stalled nominee to the Federal Communications Commission fired back at her critics at a Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing, saying that the telecommunications industry shouldn't be allowed to choose its own regulators. "Unfortunately, that is the exact intent of the past 15 months of false and misleading attacks on my record and my character," she testified. "My industry opponents have hidden behind dark money groups and surrogates because they fe
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Meet Your House Communications Subcommittee
The House Communications and Technology Subcommittee in the 118th Congress has new leadership and members. Below we offer a brief look at the broadband priorities for this key panel.
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Introducing Your Senate Commerce Committee
One of the oldest standing legislative committees in the U.S. Senate, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has jurisdiction over communications, interstate commerce, science, and technology policy. In the Senate, Commerce is the main committee concerned with universal broadband. The committee convened this week for the first time in the 118th Congress.
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Bringing Online Opportunities to Texans With Broadband—And Federal Funding
While expanding broadband access throughout Texas is a priority for Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), part of his More Prosperous Texas initiative, the governor's record on connectivity is mixed. Texas faces two simultaneous challenges. First, there remain barriers to access which are particularly prevalent in rural areas of the state. Second, even where broadband is available, there remains a substantial portion of Texans who have not adopted or subscribed to broadband in their homes.
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Federal Funding Fuels Nevada's Broadband Initiative
Extending broadband's reach to all Nevadans is a huge challenge. Nevada is the 7th-largest state in the U.S., but ranks just 32 in population, making it one of the least densely populated states in the country. Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's people live in Clark County which is home to the state's four largest cities, including Las Vegas. But, in 2000, over half of Nevada’s counties had fewer than 2 people per square mile.
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Better Internet for a Better Kentucky
In his first State of the Commonwealth address in January 2020, Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) asked lawmakers to address some stark realities. At the time, Kentucky was the third poorest state by per capita income and over 1 in 5 children in the state lived in poverty. The state ranked in the top eight of states in terms of hunger. Kentucky had some of the highest child abuse and neglect rates in the country.
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Connect Alabama Gets Help From Capital Projects Fund
As of 2021, roughly 13 percent of Alabama’s 1.65 million addresses were unserved by broadband of at least 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload (25/3), while about 19 percent of addresses were unserved by 100/20 service—the threshold recommended as the state’s five-year target to align with new federal funding opportunities. Higher-speed services like 100/100 and symmetrical 1 Gbps were available only to about 25 percent of addresses.
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Understanding and Driving Enrollment in the Affordable Connectivity Program
Fitting the monthly cost of a broadband subscription into a low-income household budget is difficult, to say the least, because of the costs of competing necessities like lodging, food, and healthcare. These financial pressures—and unexpected expenses—keep too many people in the U.S. from subscribing to home broadband service—or cause them to drop service at times to make ends meet. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress recognized these obstacles for low-income people and created a program—first called the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program—to reduce the monthly costs of connectivity.
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American Rescue Plan Helping North Carolina Complete Access to Broadband
North Carolina’s rural population is larger than that of any other state except Texas. More than 4 million people live in rural North Carolina. Over the last 10 years, the population of 18- to 64-year-olds living in these areas has been decreasing, and the population of adults 65 and older is steadily increasing. In addition to these demographic changes, rural North Carolina communities face challenges related to workforce development, capital access, infrastructure, health, land use, and environment and community preservation.
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American Rescue Plan Act Will Help Connect Illinois
As part of his $45 billion Rebuild Illinois investment strategy, Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) launched a statewide initiative, Connect Illinois, in August 2019 to expand broadband access across the entire state.