Infrastructure

Brightspeed announced that it has been awarded $1,500,000 to expand its state-of-the-art Brightspeed Fiber Internet network to nearly 2,400 more locations in Trumbull County (OH). This award is in addition to the more than $12.3 million in local, state and federal funding already awarded to Brightspeed to connect nearly 5,900 homes and businesses in Allen, Ashtabula, Columbiana, Knox, Mahoning, Shelby and Trumbull counties. 

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 260 homes and small businesses in rural areas of Pike County (OH), with additional launches planned across the county. Spectrum’s multi-year rural construction initiative is driven by more than $7 billion in private investment from the company and will ultimately add an additional 100,000+ miles of fiber-optic network infrastructure and deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit speed internet access to more than 1.7 million new locations across the country.

Chipmakers, cloud providers, energy producers and artificial intelligence companies are all flooring the pedal on infrastructure spending to support an AI-driven world that doesn't yet exist. Investors are placing hundred-billion-dollar bets that demand for AI is about to explode, while the technology has yet to persuasively demonstrate its 

The Federal Communications Commission is making it easier for telcos to turn off old copper phone and DSL networks with four changes that relax requirements related to copper shutoffs. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr—who is also pushing a "Delete, Delete, Delete" initiative to get rid of as many rules as possible—said that agency rules have prevented providers from upgrading to faster networks.

I know a number of counties and cities that have adopted dig once policies that require that every major road project includes burying empty conduit along new or reworked roads. A lot of them have found out that dig once is more complicated than they imagined. It’s a common misconception that dig once just means laying conduit in the ground while roads are dug up for repaving. It’s not that easy.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program is driving the most ambitious broadband expansion effort in U.S. history.

The Federal Communications Commission is taking an initial set of actions that will help accelerate the transition from aging copper lines to modern network infrastructure in communities all across the country. These actions will help ensure that providers roll out upgraded, high-speed networks to more Americans on a faster timeline—rather than requiring providers to keep pouring resources into maintaining decades-old and increasingly expensive copper line networks.

The Federal Communications Commission waives the filing requirements in the network change disclosure rules adopted under section 251(c)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act) for a period of two years, unless the waiver is extended prior to its expiration. In the case of short-term network changes and copper retirements, our action also eliminates the associated Bureau public notice process, along with the objection process for interconnected service providers.

Looking back on the bipartisan Infrastructure Act and its early days, the push by many at that time was fiber only and fiber everywhere. And if you are following the recent news that pendulum has swung to people insisting that Starlink is the solution for all remaining unserved and underserved locations.

The Healey-Driscoll administration and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Massachusetts Broadband Institute announced $10,410,183 in grants to upgrade internet access in nearly 8,000 public and affordable housing across 26 Massachusetts communities. MBI provided the awards through the Residential Retrofit Program, an initiative that works with housing operators and internet service providers to upgrade broadband infrastructure in public and affordable housing properties.