Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area
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North Carolina Governor Cooper Announces First Round of Completing Access to Broadband Awards to Expand Internet Access in 14 Counties
North Carolina’s first Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program. It will connect 6,012 households and 164 businesses in 14 counties to high-speed internet.
The $53,000 Connection: The High Cost of High-Speed Internet for Everyone
The cost of connecting Nebraska’s Winnebago Tribe reservation with fiber-optic cable could average $53,000 for each household and workplace connected. That amount exceeds the assessed value of some of the homes getting hookups, property records show.
Buy America Groundswell? BEAD Supplier Requirements May Be Easier to Meet Than Expected
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has tried hard to generate excitement about Buy America requirements for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program, even enlisting US Vice President Kamala Harris in the process.
Meet NTIA Digital Equity Director Angela Thi Bennett
As the US sets out to get everyone connected to broadband, it’s about more than just making sure broadband is available everywhere.
How far could the money go? Update with new Enhanced ACAM numbers
We could theoretically reach 94% of the Unserved and Underserved locations nationally. We only miss 750,000 locations. The biggest misses by percentage are Iowa (61% of Unserved and Underserved), Idaho (66%), Illinois, Kansas, and California (all 71%), Minnesota (76%), and Colorado and Nebraska (about 80%). I find it helpful to think about this as a simple math problem: how far the money might go can be estimated by multiplying the number of locations that need service times the average cost to serve them. There are 11.9 million Unserved and Underserved locations nationally.
Great Plains accelerates fiber expansion in Nebraska, Indiana
Great Plains Communications is undertaking significant network rollouts across the Midwest, announcing earlier in August 2023 that it will build fiber in 16 new urban and rural communities in Nebraska. CEO Todd Foje said these markets are all areas where Great Plains will upgrade its broadband services with fiber, with construction slated to start by late fall 2023. Some of the expansion markets are in the Omaha metro area, such as Gretna, La Vista, Papillion, and Ralston, while others are considered “small
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New Hampshire Launches Statewide Efforts to Inform Five-Year Digital Equity Plan
The University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension (UNHCE) was awarded $511,216 by the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA) to lead the development of a five-year plan to connect residents state-wide with access to high-speed internet, digital devices, training, and a host of services and resources made possible through digital technology (e.g., telehealth, on-line educational resources, mobile banking, assistive
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Connecting Indiana: Five Year Action Plan
Indiana is diligently working to expand broadband access across the entire state, recognizing its vital role in economic development, education, healthcare, and overall quality of life. The following plan outlines the vision, goals, and objectives supported by an impressive $868,109,929.79 investment in broadband, the largest in Indiana's history. Indiana actively seeks and leverages federal funding opportunities to support broadband expansion, including the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
‘Broadband Prairie’ rural wireless project moves to public phase of researching, testing
A wireless tower at Iowa State University’s Agriculture Engineering/Agronomy Farm west of Ames (IA) is loaded with hardware sending radio waves across the countryside, creating wireless internet connections for rural users. There are more poles, antennas, and cabinets full of electronics on the roof of the Economic Development Core Facility at the Iowa State University Research Park. There are also electronics and lower-to-the-ground antennas next to research fields and in a sheep barn. There’s equipment going through the roof of a dairy barn.
Rural Carriers Face a Big Decision as FCC Releases New E-ACAM Broadband Funding Offers
Small rural carriers have a big decision to make by September 29, 2023, now that the Federal Communication Commission has released new broadband funding offers. The new offers are contingent on a higher broadband speed, as mandated in the enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (E-ACAM) order. Carriers must advise the FCC by the September 2023 deadline, on a state-by-state basis, whether they want to participate in the E-ACAM program and accept the new offers. The initial program, established several years ago, covers some of the costs of deploying broadband to unserved areas based on a