Reporting

Where might consumers be paying the most for cable and internet service? New data from doxo, a billing aggregator, points to East Coast states like New Hampshire, Vermont and Delaware. According to doxo’s analysis of the most and least expensive states for cable and internet, New Hampshire came out on top with an average monthly bill of $151 per month, which is paid by 83% of households in the state.

Maryland just scored over $267 million in Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding. Kenrick Gordon, Director of Maryland’s Office of Statewide Broadband, is optimistic the amount will help fuel deployments, but he thinks it’ll take a couple of years before the money is available for broadband providers. Gordon said Maryland is currently working on its initial BEAD proposal and once it’s submitted, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has to review and approve it.

Dr. Cindy Firkins Smith doesn't mince words: "Rural health care is on the precipice of a crisis," she said. Minnesota state data show doctors in rural areas are older than those in urban ones, and one in three rural physicians plan to leave the workforce within the next five years, which could have "potentially devastating effects," said Smith. But one solution that can help bridge some of the gap: telehealth. The problem?

In an era of tighter antitrust scrutiny of Big Tech in the United States, in Europe and elsewhere, what questions does Meta’s effort to extend its social media reach raise about the industry’s ability to expand into new areas — even when players build new services themselves, rather than buy a smaller foe? Size matters, but it’s just one factor. Regulators will want to know how Meta is gaining market share. Data concerns loom large.  Being big doesn’t run afoul of antitrust law. “The key is network effects.”  “There’s a narrative out there that anything a tech company does is bad.”

AT&T, Verizon and other telecommunications companies have left behind a sprawling network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the US, under the water, in the soil, and on poles overhead. As the lead degrades, it is ending up in places where Americans live, work and play. The lead can be found on the banks of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, the Detroit River in Michigan, the Willamette River in Oregon, and the Passaic River in New Jersey, according to tests of samples from nearly 130 underwater-cable sites, conducted by several independent laboratories.

Fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) provider GigFire has acquired Rural Comm, a service provider headquartered in Farina (IL). GigFire, which now operates in ten Midwestern states, was known as LTD Broadband until earlier in 2023.

Charter Communications has prevailed in its appeal of a decision by the BBB National Program’s National Advertising Division (NAD) about speed claims in its broadband advertising. The appeal was upheld by the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appellate advertising body of BBB National Programs.

The US Justice Department asked a federal judge to stay his sweeping injunction barring many government interactions with social media companies on free-speech grounds, arguing that it was vague, confusing and likely to be overturned on appeal. “The Court’s July 4 preliminary injunction is both sweeping in scope and vague in its terms,” lawyers led by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton wrote in a filing before US District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana, citing rules that require the document to make clear “exactly what conduct is proscribed.” The government team ask

Colorado secured a whopping $826 million in funding from the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, which according to state lawmakers will help connect over 99% of Coloradan homes by the start of 2027. The collaboration of federal agencies, namely the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission, along with Colorado’s local stakeholders, served as a model for “how work gets done,” said Brandy Reitter, the Executive Director of the Colorado broadband office. As of now there are around 190,000 Colorado ho

Meta’s new microblogging app Threads is emerging as a potential threat to Twitter’s lock on politicians and political observers seeking real-time news and debate.  Most Twitter competitors have struggled to match the size and bipartisanship of its user base, but Threads is garnering significant participation from both parties.