Infrastructure

Sac and Fox Nation and Centranet broke ground on a $35.8 million dollar fiber project on August 16.

Spectrum launched Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 660 homes and small businesses in Leelanau County (MI). Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout to residents and businesses in portions of Cleveland, Glenn Arbor, Empire, and Kasson Townships. “Bringing high-speed connectivity to Northern Michigan families remains a top priority for me,” said Representative Jack Bergman (R-MI).

According to the American Community Survey, 94.1 percent of Maryland residents have a home internet subscription of some kind which—while outperforming the national rate by 3.8 percentage points—still indicates that a sizable number of Maryland households are disconnected from the internet at home.

A Virginia law streamlining broadband deployment across railroads is in courthouse limbo. The law is in effect, however, and the electric cooperatives it was meant for are using it. Virginia’s electric co-ops have completed work at about 37 crossings since the law went into effect on July 1, 2023, according to the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives. The legislation reduced the approval process time and lowered costs to internet service providers needing to cross railroads.

Whether it’s the nature of the area to be served or specific rules that don’t fit well in a given state or for a given provider, there will be some situations in which the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program just doesn’t add up. But it’s important that we figure out where that’s happening on a case-by-case basis, rather than categorically shrugging shoulders and saying, “It’s just not for me or those potential customers,” without any further thought or review. So, this is to say: let’s give BEAD a chance.

Gov Greg Gianforte (R-MT) announced that the State of Montana will be the first state in the nation to open its Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) application portal. On August 1, Gov.

A plan to fund broadband Internet infrastructure with AT&T by Solano County (CA) to the tune of $1 million has stalled, as holdups through the process meant that American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for it could not be allocated before the deadline. According to county staff, however, the ARPA funds will be funneled into other broadband projects around the county. Chief Information Officer Tim Flannigan said the county started a study in 2022 regarding broadband access throughout the county to promote digital equity.

The number of unserved and underserved locations in Connecticut is estimated to be just under 8,000 (0.57% of all locations in the state).

Fiber provider FiberLight has been selected to build a 10 Gbps fiber network for the Region 16 Education Services Center (ESC) in the Panhandle area of Texas. The project is part of the Federal Communications Commission’s E-rate program, which gives discounts to eligible schools and libraries to make internet access and telecommunications services more affordable to eligible schools and libraries. For this E-rate project, FiberLight will provide technical assets and expertise to the region, which will generate $10 million as part of its 22% of the E-Rate program.

I write to request a detailed update on the major administrative delays in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program that have resulted from unlawful red tape imposed by your agency [the National Telecommunications and Information Administration]. Despite the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) three-year-old clear statutory mandate to bring the internet to the unserved, your agency has failed to connect a single American. What NTIA has done with the money so far is create a nearly billion-dollar slush fund to “administer” the program. Speci