Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area
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Celebrating Ten Years of the Office of Broadband Development
The Minnesota Department of Employment of and Economic Development (DEED) is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Office of Broadband Development (OBD) and the ten grant rounds that followed.
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Fact Sheet: The President’s Budget Lowers Costs for the American People
President Biden is fighting to lower costs for American families and has made lowering costs his top domestic priority.
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The Advantages of Equity Funding
A large majority of internet service providers seeking BEAD grants will be financing matching funds using loans. Matching funds are the contributions expected from providers—a 75 percent grant means 25 percent in matching funds. Very few providers carry enough cash on hand to consider using equity to pay for broadband expansion. This contrasts significantly with large telephone and cable companies that will be pursuing BEAD grants, most of whom will finance grants using equity. When it comes to financing using equity vs using loans, equity is the clear winner for the provider.
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A Leader for Allegan County's Broadband Journey
Allegan County’s journey to universal connectivity has overcome a number of obstacles: accurately determining the extent of connectivity gaps, exploring potential strategic solutions, and tackling costs in a manner palatable to the community. Advancing this initiative required a leader with deep industry knowledge and a strong connection to the community.
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Danger Of Forcing Low Rates
Some State Broadband Offices are taking a stab at social engineering by trying to force BEAD grant winners to offer low broadband rates. I understand the sentiment behind this because everybody in the industry involved with digital equity issues hears stories about homes that can’t afford broadband even when it is available. I know this feels like a broadband office is doing something good, but there are a number of reasons why this is a terrible idea.
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State of the Union Address
Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 46,000 new projects have been announced across your communities – modernizing our roads and bridges, ports and airports, and public transit systems. ... Providing affordable high speed internet for every American no matter where you live.
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Avoid Sunk Costs By Funding The Affordable Connectivity Program
With the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) on the brink of exhausting its funding and congressional action to secure its future still uncertain, it’s time we have the hard conversation about sunk costs. For ACP, that includes:
Broadband Groups Decry Impact of FCC Digital Discrimination Rules on Rural Providers
America’s Communications Association (ACA Connects), the Rural Broadband Association (NTCA), and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) issued a joint statement to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to exclude smaller and rural broadband providers from its new digital discrimination rules, citing a lack of evidence they engage in discrimination where they build and calling into question the FCC’s legal authority to impose the rules. The organizations argued that the
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Dakota Carrier Network and Grand Farm partner for connectivity
North Dakota is leading the way in precision agriculture, in large part thanks to the work and research being done at the Grand Farm Innovation Campus just outside of Casselton. Precision ag, like almost anything these days, requires reliable, secure, high-speed internet connectivity and that’s where Dakota Carrier Network (DCN) is offering expertise. DCN and Grand Farm have partnered for the wireless infrastructure at the farm, an investment of $200,000. There are four primary components to the connectivity DCN is providing on the Grand Farm Innovation Campus:
VC-Backed Fastwyre Investing $65 million in Louisiana
Regional provider Fastwyre Broadband is investing more than $65 million in new and existing markets in southwest and south central Louisiana. A Fastwyre spokesperson said that “the vast majority of the $65 million investment is self-funded with small federal and state grant funding in more remote areas.” Fastwyre is a portfolio company of Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC and Catania ABC Partners. The company says that it will build or expand fiber broadband networks to support symmetrical services that eventually will reach 10 Gbps.