Non-profit wireless internet service provider DigitalC is using Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and leveraging federal funds and private donations to subsidize broadband service and infrastructure deployment to last-mile homes in Cleveland (OH). Nokia is providing a private wireless network for fixed wireless access, a model the vendor says could be a blueprint for other communities working to bridge the digital divide. The network will access CBRS spectrum using General Authorized Access at the outset, so there is no cost associated with spectrum access, but DigitalC could be preempted by a license holder at some point. The deployment includes an LTE network core, radio units, and indoor and outdoor customer premise equipment which DigitalC employees and end-users are installing. DigitalC is targeting full coverage of Cleveland over the next five years, with an additional goal of connecting up to 40,000 of Cleveland’s 50,000 unconnected households by 2024. The project is a 5-year public-private partnership with a $70 million budget; DigitalC has raised just over $20 million from private donors and expects to rely on public sector funds for the remaining $50 million. The provider offers internet access for $18 per month at 50 Mbps downstream, which some can get paid for by private company subsidies in Cleveland or the Federal Communications Commission's Emergency Broadband Benefit program.

Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced senior staff changes to the Office of Managing Director and the Office of Communications Business Opportunities (OCBO). Sanford S. Williams will assume a senior leadership position in the Office of Managing Director as Deputy Managing Director. Williams will continue to serve as a Special Advisor to Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel with a focus on agency efforts to identify and expand opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved. Joy M. Ragsdale, currently Field Counsel in the agency’s Enforcement Bureau, will now lead the Office of Communications Business Opportunities.

Williams served as the Director of the Office of Communications Business Opportunities, which promotes competition and innovation in telecommunications and information services and supports opportunities for small, women-owned, and minorityowned communications businesses. As leader of the Office of Communications Business Opportunities, Mr. Williams spearheaded work to promote digital empowerment, inclusion, equity, and diversity in the tech sector as part of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment; launched OCBO’s “Did You Know” public education video series spotlighting small, minority, and women-owned businesses and the various functions of the Office; and spoke publicly at numerous nationwide events to promote competition and innovation, and facilitate opportunities for small businesses.

Ragsdale is joining the Office of Communications Business Opportunities as Director. Since March 2018, she has served as Field Counsel in the agency’s Enforcement Bureau’s Office of the Field Director. In that role, she collaborated with field agents dedicated to resolving complex investigations involving public safety, interference mitigation, and broadcast matters. Her cases involved enforcement of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and Commission rules governing television and radio station operations, Emergency Alert System regulation, Global Positioning Systems, terminal doppler weather radars, communications towers, and protecting against pirate radio stations. She also helped a noncommercial education broadcasting station with Emergency Alert System regulations compliance enabling the station to continue serving its community in Alaska during an earthquake and tsunami.