Fiber Broadband Association

Former Administrator of the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service and current Managing Member with Rural America Strategies Chad Rupe joined the Fiber Broadband Association’s Fiber for Breakfast to share how current broadband allocations are “a bridge halfway” to aiding family farms and the growing need for precision agriculture. According to Rupe, both the farmer and provider can build up rural economies and harvest profits with precision agriculture. Farmers in rural areas often do not have integrated systems and have not gained the full benefits of ever-increasing techno

Bobby Gonzalez is Chairman of the Caddo Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma, joined the Fiber Broadband Association for a recent Fiber for Breakfast episode to share his experience with bringing broadband to Indian Country. Less than 68% of tribal people across the United States have access to the internet, Gonzalez noted. “We think, how can that happen in today’s day and age?” he said. “But you go out to the Navajo Nation and in some of the pueblos they still don’t have running water.

In 2021, a household of four requires 131/73 Mbps of bandwidth and will grow to 2,141/2,044 Mbps by 2030. This makes today’s definition of broadband speeds unusable, as the Federal Communications Commission currently defines broadband as a mere 25/3 Mbps for Americans. This antiquated definition of broadband affect the rural populations the most. 62% of the most rural areas have the lowest-performing broadband with speeds for the lowest quantile at 4/1 Mbps.

In a joint letter to Congressional leaders, the nation’s leading broadband and internet trade associations called for immediate action to support and fund critical broadband infrastructure and services that help connect all Americans during this time of great need. The letter urges House and Senate leaders to support bipartisan legislation, before year-end, that provides funding for broadband service for families and students, that clarifies extension of the current CARES Act for network deployment through 2021, and that ensures that the Federal Communications Commission has funding to deve

The Fiber Broadband Association and strategy consulting firm Cartesian released a study that explores the costs associated with deploying all-fiber networks to all households across the entire US. More than 19 million Americans lack access to broadband — and the vast majority live in rural communities. In fact, 24% of rural Americans lack access to 25 Mbps service, but less than 2% of urban Americans lack this same broadband access. Deploying fiber in rural communities will be a key step to solving the digital divide in the United States.The study finds that:

The Fiber Broadband Association and RVA, LLC released a new report on the rapid growth of the North American fiber broadband industry. Key findings include: