Reporting

Over a dozen former executives who led Twitter’s public policy team are launching a new political advisory group, taking the practically unheard of step of reuniting en masse after the company, since-rebranded X, shed much of its own shop under Elon Musk. The newly minted Blue Owl Group, a nod to Twitter’s once-iconic bird logo, is stacked with longtime tech veterans looking to use the new perch to shape major debates about the internet, artificial intelligence and climate — while recapturing the company’s sensibilities. While the firm includes several veterans like Colin Crowell who left T

The 5G for 12 GHz Coalition is urging the Federal Communications Commission to take action by December 31, 2023, to expand the 12.2 GHz band for terrestrial fixed use, giving entities like Dish Network the ability to use the band for fixed wireless access (FWA). The 12.2 GHz band is currently allocated to Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service (NGSO FSS) and fixed service.

Fixed wireless is "absolutely part of the equation” for Colorado’s Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding plans, according to Brandy Reitter, executive director of the state’s broadband office.

If UScellular were to sell some of its wireless assets, “under most scenarios that’s an opportunity and a positive for where we’re trying to go,” said Charlie Ergen, chairman of the board of DISH Network and

DOCSIS 4.0 has been billed as the technology that will put cable operators on par with 10G PON service from fiber providers, but a recent CableLabs interoperability event showed cable companies can hit over 8 Gbps with a mix of new and old gear. CableLabs Principal Architect Doug Jones said that operators demonstrated speeds of “eight point something” gigabits per second downstream and 1.5 Gbps upstream. But rather than using an end-to-end DOCSIS 4.0 system, this was done using a DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem termination system (CMTS) in a high split configuration and a DOCSIS 4.0 modem.

As global economies race to curb climate change, the telecommunications industry is positioned to make a substantial difference.

A group known as the Coalition of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Winners is still hoping that the Federal Communications Commission will release additional funding to the companies to help cover the large increases in deployment costs that the winners have experienced since the RDOF rural broadband funding auction was completed in 2020, just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. One of the companies seeking extra funding is Aristotle Broadband, which won $62 million in the auction for deployments primarily in Arkansas and Mississippi, including persistent poverty cou

The Tennessee Economic and Community Development Office (TNECD) will begin accepting applications for $60 million in Capital Projects Fund (CPF) dollars for rural broadband deployments in September 2023. But not every county will be eligible for funding. “We wanted to look at counties that historically had very few applications for grant programs," Tennessee State Broadband Director Taylre Beaty said.

Build a buffer is Shelby Pardy’s advice to operators thinking of participating in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Pardy, an analyst for Vantage Point Solutions, points out this is more than budgeting extra dollars for inflationary pressures.

The Vermont Community Broadband Board has approved amendments totaling approximately $20 million to increase broadband grant funding for two communications union districts (CUDs). CUDs are groups of towns in the state that work together to obtain broadband buildouts to unserved areas within the CUD. The decision to up the funding was made via vote of the VCBB on July 18, 2023. Maple Broadband will receive $2.1 million more for its buildouts and NEK Broadband will receive $17.9 million more for its buildouts.