Infrastructure

Monopoly control of high-speed internet access is leaving many Americans — particularly rural communities and communities of color — disconnected, underserved, or, at best, paying too much for substandard service. While community scaled internet service providers are more effective at delivering fast, affordable, and reliable Internet, monopolies, state-level regulations, and other factors stand in the way of these locally driven solutions to America’s broadband challenges. The report recommends a range of policy actions for improving broadband at the local level, including:

Probably like you, I made sure to make time to watch the Inauguration on January 20. Whenever a President is sworn in, his Inauguration speech sets the tone for his entire Administration.

The first phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) was for unserved markets, so given their high-cost nature it makes sense that affordable fixed wireless played such a large role. In the subsequent round, we expect fixed wireless to play a reduced role in underserved areas, which tend to be more densely populated. Technically speaking, with enough government support, unserved markets can be connected with gigabit speeds via fixed wireless, but execution risks and the ability to secure letters of credit (LOCs) could impede an operator’s ability to deliver on its bid.

Twelve years ago, the federal government awarded hundreds of grants for broadband infrastructure with stimulus funds from the Recovery Act of 2009. In this study, Oh reviews the subsidy allocations from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program and compare actual outcomes with those that a reverse auction or random lottery may have yielded. The analysis shows that a reverse auction might have connected nearly twice as many buildings for the same total subsidy dollars relative to the results from the grant review process.

The Department of Agriculture today announced the names of individuals who will hold senior staff positions including:

The US Department of Agriculture announced Justin Maxson, CEO of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, has been named Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development. Maxson served as the CEO of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, an organization that works toward poverty alleviation and economic justice in southern states. Before that, he spent 13 years as the president of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development.

CenturyLink and Frontier Communications have again failed to meet broadband-deployment deadlines in dozens of states after taking money from the Federal Communications Commission. The deadline to hit 100 percent of the required deployments passed on December 31, 2020. Both CenturyLink and Frontier informed the FCC that they missed the deadline to finish deployment in numerous states. The carriers won't face the possibility of punishment yet.

Exploring the use of an innovative approach to a public-private partnership (PPP) to spur the deployment of broadband and create more resilient telecommunications networks in Puerto Rico. Such a partnership is a critical ingredient of the plan for rebuilding the telecommunications sector of Puerto Rico after the island was devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017. The proposed partnership also has the potential for enabling the expansion of citizen access to broadband services throughout Puerto Rico.

In his inaugural speech, President Joe Biden noted the various factions at odds with one another in America, including a rural and urban divide.

Solving the country’s broadband challenges will require bold new government action. That’s why Verizon is calling on Congress to take critical steps to further expand broadband access and implement new tools that will enable even more Americans to use the power of the internet, including: