Internet/Broadband

Prior to the election on November 5th, I wrote about Arizona’s Congressional races and the candidates’ positions and records on broadband issues. In the House, I highlighted two races: the 1st and 6th Districts. In both of those races, the Republican candidate prevailed, riding the wave of support for Donald Trump. In Arizona’s highly publicized Senate race, however, Democrat Ruben Gallego was able to find success despite Trump carrying the state in the presidential race.

Lobby groups for Internet service providers claim that ISPs' customer service is so good already that the government shouldn't consider any new regulations to mandate improvements. They also claim ISPs face so much competition that market forces require providers to treat their customers well or lose them to competitors.

BoomerTECH Adventures and Coastal Maine Regional Broadband (CMRB) held their first round of free workshops providing digital literacy training and education with the goal of helping Midcoast libraries and organizations support their clients to access and utilize high-speed internet effectively.

An $11 million investment in regional infrastructure is planned to bring high-speed, low-latency connectivity to more than 6,600 locations in western Maine. These are sites that either don’t currently have access to the internet or have access to slower broadband or copper-based connections. The funding for the project, which entails building more than 450 miles of fiber, was announced by FirstLight, a provider of digital infrastructure services. The Maine Connectivity Authority made the agreement with FirstLight to receive the funding.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) seems to hate many things about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Congress passed in 2021 with bipartisan support. Cruz’s hatred could presage rocky times for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program in 2025 because he is likely to head up the Senate Commerce Committee when Republicans take majority control of the Senate in January.

Instagram's X rival, Threads, has seen 35 million new users sign up for the platform since November 1st. Threads and rival BlueSky are competing to attract d

Grafton County, New Hampshire's second-largest county, began a $17 million project to construct a 200-mile fiber-optic middle-mile network. The initiative, led by the Grafton County Board of Commissioners and the county’s broadband committee, with infrastructure provider eX² Technology, aims to transform connectivity in 25 municipalities across the county that currently lack reliable Internet access. The project was spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and revealed the dire need for broadband expansion across rural Grafton County.

Consumers shopping for new devices and considering making changes to their existing home or mobile broadband service plans this holiday season may find that some internet service providers have not updated their websites and other marketing materials to reflect that the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and its monthly discount on broadband services ended on June 1, 2024. Some provider websites even continue to collect personal information from consumers seeking enrollment in ACP.

Information on racial disparities in Maryland housing and neighborhood conditions, as well as the current and ongoing work of the Department to address inequities. Highlights efforts toward reducing digital redlining in Maryland through statewide investments and the Maryland Digital Equity Plan. A lesser-known consequence of disinvestment, “digital redlining” refers to the underdevelopment of broadband infrastructure in low-income neighborhoods.

At last count, New Hampshire had about 31,000 unserved and underserved locations eligible for the $42.5 billion Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Matthew Conserva, New Hampshire’s broadband program manager, expects that number to drop considerably by the time the state starts taking applications for $197 million in BEAD funding allotted to it. The number of locations eligible for BEAD funding has been declining as deployments are made that were funded through various federal funding programs, Conserva said.