Infrastructure

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus, introduced comprehensive broadband infrastructure legislation to expand access to affordable high-speed internet for all Americans. The Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act will invest $100 billion to build high-speed broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities to close the digital divide and connect Americans to ensure they have increased access to education, health care, and business opportunities.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) took to the House floor to talk up the massive Moving Forward Act infrastructure bill, including its $100 billion in funding for broadband buildouts he says will close the digital divide. The $1.5 trillion-plus bill would allocate billions to subsidize broadband competition--including from municipal providers--in "underserved" areas which could mean where service is already provided by private capitol at just short of gig speeds.  "T

The Michigan Broadband Cooperative is hitting back at a report from the Free State Foundation that claims that local governments in Michigan frequently abuse broadband restrictions placed on them. Theodore Bolema, professor of economics at Wichita State University, wrote that the governments’ unfair treatment allowed them to take advantage of regulatory privileges.

Comcast says its broadband network has earned high marks for its performance so far during the Covid-19 pandemic, and now Wall Street analysts are projecting more broadband subscriber growth for the company. Comcast claims its network is delivering above-advertised speeds nationwide, based on the results of more than 700,000 daily diagnostic network speed tests. Upstream traffic is up 32% as more Americans work from home, and downstream traffic is up 11%.

On June 2, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai about the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).

The Federal Communications Commission has been working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that critical communications infrastructure projects continue to proceed at a time when so many Americans are relying on high-speed Internet services. On June 25, the FCC announced a process that has been developed in coordination with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation that will further expedite the process for reviewing those infrastructure builds.

“The Republican Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have put together a smart and comprehensive set of infrastructure reforms. Their thoughtful reforms would bring families across the digital divide and further extend America’s leadership in 5G by helping to accelerate the build out of high-speed Internet services. Their ideas, including legislation that would tackle the permitting delays that persist for Internet builds on federal lands, would make an immediate difference for rural communities across the country.

Twenty-eight projects in Illinois will receive a total of $50 million for broadband expansion. The state Connect Illinois grants will be matched by $65 million in nonstate funding for a total of $115 million, with plans to expand access for more than 26,000 homes, businesses, farms, and community institutions across Illinois. These funds are being released as part of the state's $420 million statewide broadband expansion, Connect Illinois—the governor’s plan to bring basic access to all communities by 2024. Gov. J.B.

The US Department of Commerce joined with its government partners to release a Progress Report detailing the accomplishments of the American Broadband Initiative (ABI) after the release of the initial ABI Milestones Report.

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OR) unveiled a package of 26 bills that aim to streamline the deployment of broadband infrastructure. These bills, spearheaded by Republican members of the House Commerce Committee, would promote new and upgraded infrastructure deployments, incentivize competition and consumer choice, right-size regulations for building infrastructure across industries, and facilitate broadband deployment on federal lands. The 26 bills would: