Multichannel News

In rural America, many grain legs (bucket elevators for moving grain) have small wireless radios attached to them, providing the grain leg’s owner with broadband service.

A consortium led by USTelecom, ITTA, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA), and a group of broadband companies have created a new initiative to improve the quality of broadband mapping. The Broadband Mapping Initiative will start with a pilot program in MO and one in my home state of VA. The pilot will aggregate all locations in MO and VA, identify their geolocation, and create a Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric to identify locations that require access to broadband.

After over nine hours of debate over mostly failed amendments, and delays, legislation that would re-regulate internet access by reinstating the Federal Communications Commission's 2015 Open Internet Order's Title II-based net neutrality rules is on its way to a vote in the full House, where it is likely to pass. An amended version of the Save the Internet Act (HR 1644) was approved by the House Commerce Committee on a party-line vote.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved two telecommunications bills: