Infrastructure

Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, is expected to play a role in the Biden administration’s $42 billion program to bring high-speed internet to every American home, as Washington comes up against some hard math in its effort to build networks reaching the most remote corners of the nation. The growing discussion of using Starlink to fill in coverage gaps is an acknowledgment of just how expensive and challenging it would be to run new internet cables up every mountain and down every valley nationwide.

President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is making once-in-a-generation investments in America’s infrastructure and our clean energy future that are creating good-paying and union jobs, establishing and growing new industries in the United States, tackling the climate crisis, and helping lower costs for families. To deploy these investments, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken aggressive action to accelerate project permitting and environmental reviews.

The ACCESS BROADBAND Act requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) to submit to relevant congressional committees and publish on its website an annual report that contains a description of OICG’s work for the previous year and the number of U.S.

Connect Humanity, a non-profit impact investor, is collaborating with Microsoft to support high-speed internet access and adoption in underserved Appalachian communities. Connect Humanity’s IDEA Fund (Investing in Digital Equity Appalachia) plans to invest in community-focused internet service providers which are best placed to meet the digital needs of residents and businesses in Appalachia’s unserved areas. Connect Humanity aims to convene a diverse group of capital partners including Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), banks, impact investors, and foundations to meet th

Many state broadband directors are keeping their fingers crossed that all the areas eligible for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program rural broadband funding receive bids. But it’s a particularly big challenge for New Mexico, as the state’s broadband director Drew Lovelace explained. “New Mexico hits a trifecta of challenges in geography, size, and rurality. A lot of states have one or two of these, we have all three,” said Lovelace. New Mexico is the fifth largest state in land mass, but only 36th in population.

A backlash against internet data centers has triggered a wave of laws around the country to restrain the rapidly growing industry that uses massive amounts of energy to make cloud computing and smart technology possible. In Northern Virginia, home to the world’s largest concentration of data center buildings, Prince William County increased its tax rate on the equipment inside data centers by 72 percent, a response in part to complaints about too many of the football-field-sized facilities being built there.

The rural broadband industry has such a great success story to tell. In the face of transformative technologies, regulatory challenges and increasing competition, you have embraced that change, stayed committed and looked to close the digital divide by delivering the robust and high-quality services that you do every single day. Your commitment to sustainable networks and affordable services is what really has made rural communities fertile ground for innovation. We’ve seen that in so many ways, and this innovation contributes billions of dollars to the U.S. economy every single year.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration preparing to award over $44 billion to construct rural broadband networks. Almost by definition, these networks will be built in rural areas where it’s hard to justify a business plan where revenues generated from the grant areas are sufficient to fund the ongoing operation and eventual upgrades to any broadband networks.

Fidium Fiber is now available to more than 7,600 homes and businesses in Berlin, Gorham, Randolph and Shelburne, NH. With the expansion of Fidium’s future-proof all-fiber network complete, residents can now connect to symmetrical multi-gig internet speeds and all the benefits that come with access to high-speed fiber connection. Fidium expansion in Berlin is part of a $90 million project by Consolidated Communications to bring fiber-to-the-home internet service to unserved locations in more than 35 towns in Carroll, Chesire, Coos, Grafton, Hillsborough and Sullivan counties.

Charter Communications—through its affiliates Charter Fiberlink – Michigan LLC, Charter Fiberlink – Missouri, LLC, and Charter Fiberlink CCO, LLC—was awarded Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) funding to deploy gigabit-speed internet service in certain unserved areas of Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin.