Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area
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Maine Leads Nation with First Plan To Close the Digital Divide
Maine is the first state in the country to have its Digital Equity Plan approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The plan outlines the steps the state will take to expand access to high-speed, reliable internet and break down barriers to connections, especially for populations most impacted by the digital divide. Its approval is the first step for Maine to qualify for Digital Equity Act funding, resulting in an estimated allocation between $12 million and $14 million.
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New US Department of the Treasury Analysis Shows President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is Driving Investment to Underserved Communities in Georgia
The Department of the Treasury released new analysis on the benefits of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda for Georgia.
Rural Texans, internet providers worry that federal broadband expansion plan will have a painfully slow rollout
A national coalition—including broadband providers and nonprofit organizations—noted that some recipients nationwide of previous broadband grant programs have failed to use their allocations to build out broadband networks. Texas Rural Funders, a nonprofit dedicated to rural philanthropy, took the lead in collecting signatures from Texans.
Will Latency Be the Next Rural/Urban Digital Divide?
The US is at risk of experiencing a new type of rural/urban digital divide, said stakeholders at the RTIME conference. “Latency is becoming the new currency,” said Brent Legg, executive vice president of Connected Nation, a non-profit focused on carrier neutral internet exchange points. The root of the problem is that only 57 US cities have internet exchange points, requiring providers serving customers outside those areas to transport traffic to one of those 57 cities to exchange traffic with the network operator and/or content provider at the opposite end of the connection. This adds late
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SC Digital Opportunity Department Submits Digital Equity Plan
On February 12, 2024, the Digital Opportunity Department (DOD) of the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff submitted its Digital Equity Plan to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). This five-year Plan is designed to help bridge the digital divide through enhanced broadband adoption and use. Its goals are to enhance the following:
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Remarks by President Biden at the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference
The American Rescue Plan provided $350 billion to state and local governments. Then we passed the most significant investment in our nation’s infrastructure in generations: roads, bridges, railroads, ports, airports, public transit, clean water, high-speed Internet, and so much more. You know, just like FDR passed the Rural Electrification Act to deliver electricity to nearly every home and farm in America, we’re building affordable high-speed Internet for everyone in America, because the Internet is just as essential today as electricity was then. Last month, I was in Wake County, North Ca
Rural Americans Were Less Likely to Enroll in a Federal Broadband Assistance Program. Now It’s Too Late to Sign up
Rural households were not as likely as their urban counterparts to enroll in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a federal fund that is running out of money to help low income families connect to the internet. About a third (37 percent) of rural households that are eligible for the monthly discount on broadband subscriptions had enrolled in the program as of December 2023.
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FOCUS Broadband Completes Work on NCDIT GREAT Grant Project in Bladen County (NC)
FOCUS Broadband completed its Faster Bladen broadband project, making high-speed internet service available for over 700 residents and businesses living near Tar Heel and along portions of North Carolina Highway 701 between Clarkton and Elizabethtown. This project was made possible using $2.9 million in funds awarded to FOCUS Broadband in 2022 from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s (NCDIT) Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant program.
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Commerce Secretary to NTCA Members: Prepare to Compete and Win BEAD Funding
During the opening of the 2024 RTIME, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo encouraged small, community-based broadband providers to pursue Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program grants, telling NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield in a recorded fireside chat that the agency will continue to work to help address administrative burdens, supply chain constraints and workforce challenges.
NTCA CEO Sees Congress in “Disarray”: Providers Should Remind Them What They Need to Get Done
Congress is “in disarray right now,” said Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association, in an address at NTCA’s annual RTIME conference in Tampa. Bloomfield urged NTCA’s members attending the conference to remind their elected officials that “It’s not about who’s winning and who’s losing; it’s about getting things done.” Bloomfield pointed to several open issues facing Congress that will impact rural providers and their communities.