Infrastructure

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested $7.1 million in two, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for 1,250 rural households in north central Arkansas. The Yelcot Telephone Company will use a $1.7 million ReConnect Program grant and a $1.7 million loan to upgrade facilities from copper cable and drops to a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network that is expected to connect 548 households in Baxter and Marion counties.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested $18.7 million in a high-speed broadband infrastructure project that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 6,300 rural households and an estimated 383 farms in Harrison, Doddridge, Lewis, Barbour and Upshur counties in West Virginia. The Harrison Rural Electrification Association Inc.

Here are just a few pieces that we think are worthy of further consideration and some modification before the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) order becomes final.

The problem with using speed alone in assessing the capabilities of broadband networks is that it represents only one product characteristic, and is not necessarily linked with the requirements of the applications commonly used by end consumers.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) sounded the alarm on a misguided plan from the Federal Communications Commission that would exacerbate the digital divide in numerous Upstate New York communities and called on it to reverse course at once. The FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will allocate $20.4 billion to connect millions of rural homes and small businesses to high-speed, broadband internet.

Frontier provided the Federal Communications Commission notice that, based on its current year-end data, it met or exceeded the FCC Connect America Fund Phase II program’s December 31, 2019 interim broadband deployment milestone in 16 states, but, based on preliminary year-end data, it may not have reached the CAF Phase II 80 percent interim deployment milestone in 13 states. More information by March 1, 2020.

CenturyLink provided the Federal Communications Commission notice that its current year-end data shows it met or exceeded the Connect America Fund Phase II program’s interim broadband deployment milestone in ten states, but, based on preliminary year-end data, it may not have met the CAF Phase II 80 percent interim deployment milestone in 23 states. Additional information coming by March 1, 2020.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested $5.7 million in a high-speed broadband infrastructure project that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity in parts of three Nebraska counties. The investment is expected to connect 489 rural households, 24 farms and eight businesses to high-speed broadband internet in unserved portions of Madison, Wayne and Pierce counties. Eastern Nebraska Telephone Company will use a $5.7 million ReConnect Program grant to construct 221 miles of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband infrastructure.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) invested $11 million in three, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 1,395 rural households and nearly 120 businesses throughout several counties in Minnesota and northern Iowa. Harmony Telephone Company will use a $2.7 million ReConnect Program loan and a $2.7 million ReConnect Program grant to construct a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to connect 577 households, a health care center and a critical community facility spread over 143 square miles in several counties bordering

House Democratic leaders are set to roll out infrastructure legislation following the Martin Luther King Jr. Day recess. The legislation will likely feature provisions aimed at closing the digital divide, putting the issue of broadband internet access front and center ahead of the 2020 elections.