The Federal Communications Commission announced extensions of key E-Rate service implementation and filing deadlines to provide relief to program participants affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. These extensions will alleviate administrative and compliance burdens on schools and libraries and enable them to focus on transitioning to remote learning during the pandemic.

Today, we face a health crisis that makes plain – again – the importance of broadband to all people in America. As Oliva Wein of the National Consumer Law Center explains, “We’re hearing stories of low-income people without broadband at home traveling to healthcare facilities, risking their health and the health of other people, including healthcare workers, with whom they come in contact.

Corey Shepherd teaches fifth graders in rural Alaska in a school district the size of Indiana. The terrain there is so rural that only airplanes and snowmobiles connect the district’s 11 tiny villages. Shepherd is one of more than 7,000 teachers in her state trying to make the most of teaching her students since the governor closed schools to in-person learning to stop the spread of the coronavirus. One method she isn’t relying on: online learning. “Around half of my students have access to the internet on some device at home,” Shepherd said.

President Donald Trump held a call with top communications company CEOs to check in with those working to maintain and extend essential connections in a pandemic-driven world of sheltering- and quarantining-in-place. According to the White House, the President thanked them and their employees for their work to keep the country connected for work, education, shopping and bridging the physical distances with virtual socializing. The President talked about the strength of a free-market based network system that remained strong. The President called the system the envy of the world and thanked

We debut a tool that will allow the public and policymakers to track the growth in traffic during the pandemic and get a weekly snapshot of how cable broadband networks are performing during the pandemic.

The Federal Communications Commission gave certain carriers flexibility to focus Universal Service Funds on hard-hit areas in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the waiver order allows competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) to use their high-cost legacy support in the service areas of any affiliated ETC in order to respond to the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19. FCC rules require all legacy high-cost support to be used in a particular service area.

Everything from meetings at the office to happy hours with friends are all now occurring in digital space. All of this internet use is putting more pressure on our broadband infrastructure. Just in the past few weeks, data demands have risen in nearly all categories.

Groups that procure student-friendly hotspots and laptops with built-in internet access say that, as school districts move all classes online, a spike in demand has created a shortage of thousands — if not millions — of devices. LTE-connected laptops and hotspots are two of the most popular ways that school districts can put a plug-and-play internet connection into students' hands, allowing them to complete homework and keep up with lessons without a hardwired, in-home connection. One of the biggest barriers to obtaining the equipment is that it is made in China. Daniel Neal, founder of sch

The historic $2 trillion “economic rescue” bill includes key funding, which New America explains here, for a number of education initiatives ranging from early childhood to post-secondary. What it doesn’t include, noticeably, is a robust response for helping households gain better online access.

If rural America returns to broadband as usual, it will mean public institutions like libraries sometimes serving as the only broadband link for communities. While rural communities find ways to keep residents connected, the only thing certain right now is that there is a great deal of uncertainty. The new coronavirus has pulled hard at a thread of the nation’s patchwork sweater, leaving some Americans exposed to an onrush of climactic change. But for rural Americans who want reliable broadband, there is the potential for opportunity in crisis.