Reporting

Online classes for older adults are increasingly helping the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) not only raise digital skill levels—but more efficiently implement other technology to serve clients, including artificial intelligence.

North Carolina has about 400,000 homes and businesses either not served by high-speed Internet or with woefully inadequate service. North Carolina, like every state and U.S. territory, is in the throes of getting a clearer understanding—than perhaps ever before—of just how wide their digital divides are. They have organized state broadband offices, generally within technology agencies, to count, quantify and analyze the depth of the problem.

Whitfield County (GA) Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen said no resident within the county should be “left behind” concerning broadband internet access. Speaking at a community listening session, Jensen and county consultant Jake Bearden heard from members of the public about internet access and broadband projects. Whitfield County was awarded $30,000 in grant funding in March from Connect Humanity’s Appalachian Digital Accelerator initiative. Bearden said the meeting was the “first step in making sure that all of Whitfield County has equal access to (broadband).” Jensen said the

There’s a lot of government funding going around for rural broadband, but it won’t mean much if those last mile networks aren’t connected to the rest of the network, says Bill Long, chief product and strategy officer at Zayo Group.

People with disabilities regularly face accessibility challenges while using government websites. Solving these challenges has become more urgent, for two reasons. First, COVID-19 pushed more of life online, and it is often easier now to do business digitally than in person. Second, the U.S.

There was strong 5G wireless growth during first quarter of 2024, with 185 million additions pushing global connections to almost the 2 billion level, according to data from 5G Americas telecommunications trade organization and Omdia, an analyst and advisory company. North America is a big part of the positive momentum. The researchers reported that 32% of all cellular connections were 5G, which is double the global average. The overall growth rate was 11%, which equates to 22 million new connections.

The end of the Affordable Care Program (ACP) in May left a significant number of people at risk of losing access to broadband. Empowerus is trying to help soften the blow with a unique set of benefits that they believe constitute a replacement for the ACP. Empowerus and the Secure Card Association of America (SCAA) are partnering to provide a bundle of benefits to eligible households. Empowerus participants can opt for several benefits, including:

On July 9, the House Commerce Committee's Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing on the fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget for the Federal Communications Commission. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel testified before the subcommittee along with fellow commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks, Nathan Simington, and Anna Gomez.

Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) President Andrew Butcher isn’t hyper-focused on the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program and the $272 million that Maine will be receiving. “Unfortunately, I think it’s a common misnomer that, once you deploy BEAD, the problem is solved,” Butcher said. The MCA was founded and structured largely based on lessons from Maine’s successful 2020 state bond campaign and 2021 bid for $28 million from National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Infrastructure Program to support six community-driven, regional-scale, publ

A team of researchers in Japan and the United Kingdom have smashed the world record for fiber optic communications through commercial-grade fiber. By broadening fiber’s communication bandwidth, the team has produced data rates four times as fast as existing commercial systems—and 33 percent better than the previous world record. The researchers’ success derives in part from their innovative use of optical amplifiers to boost signals across communications bands that conventional fiber optics technology today less-frequently uses.