Infrastructure

All signs are pointing to a third round of the Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect funding program opening in spring 2021. It’s not too early to begin developing an application strategy to position yourself competitively for that opportunity. We expect the program might open at the end of the first quarter of 2021 with a grant deadline 60 to 90 days later.

The South Carolina General Assembly passed a bill supporters said will help get high-speed internet to hundreds of thousands of people in rural areas.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that funding through Stage 2 of the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund will result in all locations in Puerto Rico having access to fixed broadband service with speeds of at least 100 Mbps. And nearly one-third of those locations will have access to fixed broadband service with speeds of at least 1 Gbps.

Hundreds of thousands of families are challenged by modern economic, education, and health-care systems while living without internet access in rural Ohio. COVID-19 has exacerbated the issue, but the problem has been persistent in Appalachia for decades. In 2019 the Buckeye Hills Regional Council applied for a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to conduct an eight-county study — in Athens, Hocking, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Perry and Washington counties — in partnership with Ohio University and the Athens County Economic Development Council.

The Federal Communications Commission has a program, known as the high-cost program, to promote broadband deployment in unserved areas. Although the performance goals for the high-cost program reflect principles in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, not all of the goals are expressed in a measurable or quantifiable manner and therefore do not align with leading practices.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing over $53.6 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in 10 states.

Alabama’s Black Belt region is markedly behind the rest of the state when it comes to internet access. Of the 24 Black Belt counties to be part of the region, all except two are below the statewide average of 86 percent coverage, and half are below 50 percent. Further, Choctaw and Perry counties zero percent coverage of 100+ mbps internet (Greene County has a negligible 0.02 percent coverage).

In October 2019, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society issued Broadband for America’s Future: A Vision for the 2020s. The agenda was comprehensive, constructed upon achievements in communities and insights from experts across the nation. The report outlined the key building blocks of broadband policy—deployment, competition, community anchor institutions, and digital equity (including affordability and adoption).

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $5 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Kentucky. This investment is part of the $550 million Congress allocated to the second round of the ReConnect Program. Peoples Telecom LLC will use a $2.4 million ReConnect grant and a $2.4 million ReConnect loan to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $1.8 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Iowa. This investment is part of the $550 million Congress allocated to the second round of the ReConnect Program.