Colorado

A new lawsuit from fiber operator Metronet accuses officials from the City of Colorado Springs of blocking the company's fiber network construction efforts in the city. The reason? The city's utility is building its own, rival fiber network.

The Colorado broadband office offered an update on Round 2 of their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants applicant activity. The office closed the second application window through its Advance Colorado Broadband grant program at the end of February. During the second round, the office received 96 applications from 22 companies for a proposed $825 million total investment, including $649,000 in requested funding and $176 million in matching funds.

The Colorado Broadband Office (CBO) is seeking information from broadband providers who currently offer service to locations eligible for the BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) program. This information will help the CBO ensure that BEAD funding is directed to unserved and underserved areas. This notice outlines the process for demonstrating existing service and claiming locations as served, which may preclude those locations from receiving BEAD funding. For a location to be eligible for this process, it must meet both of the following criteria:

Following up on the release of The Human Infrastructure of Broadband: Looking Back, Looking Around, and Looking Ahead, we are providing examples of core, complementary, and coalition models for digital equity work. With 27 locations, the Denver Public Library (DPL) is an innovative hub for digital equity throughout the city, serving more than 700,000 residents. The library provides more than 1,400 public internet computers that receive more than 250,000 uses annually, as well as free public Wi-Fi.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has recommended for award more than $250 million to 24 organizations to support digital skills and inclusion projects in communities across the country. The funding will support 24 projects across 39 states and territories. Awards will be issued following budget review and processing. 

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award applications from Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Maryland, North Dakota, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, allowing them to request access to more than $60.6 million to implement their Digital Equity Plans. With this announcement, NTIA has approved and recommended for award all state and U.S. Territory applications for the first round of funding from the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program.

The City of Boulder (CO) has developed a transformative agreement with ALLO Communications to bring affordable, high-speed internet access to community members and businesses across the city. This collaboration will significantly enhance Boulder's digital infrastructure, expanding access to high-quality broadband services while fostering equity, inclusivity, and environmental sustainability. This achievement stems from a 2018 decision by City Council to construct a citywide fiber backbone.

November marks the tenth anniversary of NextLight: the municipal broadband provider for the city of Longmont, Colorado, launched in 2014 as the first municipal broadband network in the state.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB or Bureau) announced that certain Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) census block groups (CBG) are now eligible for other funding programs.

Lumen Technologies—through its affiliates Qwest and CenturyTel of Wyoming—was awarded Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) funding to deploy gigabit speed Internet service in areas of Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Now Lumen is returning nine census block groups (CBGs) where it was awarded RDOF funding in those states. Lumen has observed deployment costs increase dramatically in many areas since it made its bids. In addition, in some areas, the number of locations to be deployed to is substantially different from the initial published auction numbers.