Infrastructure

Windstream, Colquitt Electric Membership Cooperative (EMC) and Lowndes County (GA), are teaming up on a $39 million public-private partnership to bring broadband to about 16,000 locations in the county. Windstream is contributing about $17.6 million. The other $21.7 million is funded through the Georgia State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the county. Windstream will handle cost overruns. The project, which will provide multi-gigabit service to users, will include 806 miles of fiber.

Broadband provider United Communications and majority owner Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE) are partnering to expand the scope of a major fiber buildout that they undertook in 2023. They are expanding a fiber build in Williamson County, Tennessee. Construction in that county was initially designed to reach 2,800 addresses but the new target is 8,000 locations. Funding for the initial stage of the Williamson County project came through Project UNITE, an initiative consisting of United, MTE and Duck River Electric Membership Corporation.

This report summarizes information about Internet access in the United States as of June 30, 2022, as collected by FCC Form 477 and the Broadband Data Collection (BDC). [For purposes of this report, Internet access is defined as a service that allows information to be sent to or received from the Internet with a speed of at least 200 kilobits per second.] Total connections increased by about 3.4% between June 2021 and June 2022 to 517 million.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) updated guidance regarding location and broadband coverage in the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (Enhanced ACAM) mechanism. Specifically, to best reflect deployment as of the August 30, 2023 offer, the Bureau will use FCC Broadband Data Collection broadband availability data as of June 30, 2023 to determine deployment obligations and support for locations in the December 2023 Serviceable Location Fabric for which such availability data are available.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) waives the FCC’s rules, on its own accord, to include in West Side Telephone Company’s (West Side’s) Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (Enhanced A-CAM) offer locations that would otherwise have been treated as served by a competitor due to a federally enforceable commitment by ClearFiber. This limited waiver applies only to the locations within West Side’s West Virginia study area where ClearFiber is no longer subject to a

Uniti Group entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Windstream Holdings.

Frontier Communications reported first-quarter 2024 results. Highlights include:

Altice USA reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. Highlights include:

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 1,300 homes and small businesses near the communities of Famous, Moscow Mills, New Hope and Troy, Missouri.

In a step toward transforming Memphis (TN) into the nation's most digitally-equitable large city, Mayor Paul Young (D) broke ground on Memphis' first citywide fiber network. Memphis' median fixed broadband speeds currently rank among the slowest of any major US cities and less than 25 percent of residents have access to superior fiber internet. The citywide infrastructure being designed, built, financed, and managed by Blue Suede Networks, is being designed to pass 85 percent of Memphis' business and residential premises, including 85 percent in low-income communities.