telecompetitor

Vermont-focused broadband provider Burlington Telecom has introduced two service plans that it says will help subscribers who previously depended on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Burlington Telecom, which serves the city of that name and nearby communities, is offering two low cost programs. One is priced at $9.95 per month and offers 50 Mbps symmetrical service.

AT&T CEO John Stankey said the most critical issue facing the telecommunications industry is the effective implementation of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. To close the digital divide, Stankey said, additional policies should be created to ensure that all BEAD Program funds (“every dollar of taxpayer money”) are used to expand access to broadband as quickly as possible.

LiveOak Fiber, which operates fiber broadband networks in Georgia and Florida, has secured $250 million from J.P. Morgan to fund its fiber network expansion in the southeastern United States. The quarter billion investment will be used to expand LiveOak’s 100% fiber broadband network in Florida, Georgia, and beyond. Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Brunswick, Georgia, LiveOak Fiber has grown quickly.

California’s Broadband Office is just what you’d expect:  large, spread out, and a little hard to navigate. It’s not, technically, even one office. In actuality, the California Public Utilities Commission's  Communications Division handles the complicated task of allocating broadband grants to serve those in need. The CPUC’s Communications Division oversees the state’s telecommunications issues in six branches. Within broadband there are approximately 75 employees with a subsection of 25 dedicated to Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD).

Despite problems with the wider U.S. economy, demand for broadband and consumer take rates for increasing speeds has not slowed.

I realized some months ago that all those books piling up on my side table aren’t going to read themselves. All those places I’ve been wanting to visit aren’t going to visit themselves. And so on.

Breezeline, LICT Corporation, and Longmont Power & Communications are the latest broadband providers to offer an alternative to the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which offered a $30 per month discount on internet service to low-income households and was terminated in May. The new programs from these companies offer discounted service to low-income households that were on the ACP and in two cases offer the lower-cost service to new households that meet the income eligibility requirements. Though each company’s discount offering is slightly different—both in