Reporting

To connect more Americans, Congress designated a slice of the $1.2 trillion 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Infrastructure Act), as well as a portion of the $350 billion 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that passed to provide financial relief during the COVID pandemic, to fund projects that would cross this digital divide. All told, the bills provide around $90 billion in funding for connectivity spread across a plethora of initiatives. The question remains: Will this colossal sum be enough to bridge the digital divide?

With the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) on the line, internet service providers (ISPs) want to ensure their low-income subscribers don’t lose internet access—and that nobody falls through the cracks. Identity verification company SheerID has launched a tool allowing telcos to verify that households are eligible for government assistance programs.

The looming end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), and the alarm it has triggered among dozens of experts I've talked to, reveals that this federal program is about much more than internet access.

Brightspeed's fiber expansion is gaining momentum. The privately-backed company said its fiber network is now available at one million locations, notching that achievement just one year after it launched Brightspeed Fiber Internet. And sure, hitting that milestone is cool. But what really matters is that people are buying it. A spokesperson for the company said Brightspeed Fiber Internet sales increase every month.

In response to claims that Mercury Broadband has overstated its ability to provide fixed wireless access (FWA) in 12 Michigan counties on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) broadband map, the company has released its own map of coverage in the counties in question. Mercury said it uses Forsk’s Atoll software for its mapping. The company stated in an email, “Mercury does not intentionally overstate speeds or coverage.

Mediacom is proving that even though it's a cable and fiber provider, it's happy to use fixed wireless access (FWA), too. Mediacom will use Tarana’s next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) broadband technology in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina—states where it’s won funding from the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The operator’s required RDOF buildout target is 5,694 locations, said Thomas Larsen, Mediacom’s SVP of government and public relations.

In Fort Collins, Colorado, residents have a unique option when signing up for internet service. Instead of being limited to giant providers like Comcast, Charter or Cox, they can opt for a city-owned and operated service, called Connexion. Connexion's genesis took place about a decade ago, when the city was looking for ways to bring faster, more affordable internet to the community. In November 2017, voters approved a ballot measure to build a municipal fiber network.

Officials with ACA Connects and EducationSuperHighway spelled out a series of concerns they have about a proposal from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that aims to ban "bulk billing" for broadband in apartments, condos and other types of multiple-dwelling units (MDUs). Bulk billing agreements typically enable MDUs to negotiate discounted rates for broadband services

On battlefields from Ukraine to Sudan, Starlink provides immediate and largely secure access to the internet. Besides solving the age-old problem of effective communications between troops and their commanders, Starlink provides a way to control drones and other advanced technologies that have become a critical part of modern warfare.

They’re calling it a moonshot—akin to sending men to the moon in the 1960s.