Level of Government

Western Governors encourage Congress and federal agencies to recognize that the current definition of broadband – 25/3 Mbps – does not correspond with the requisite download and upload speeds necessary to support many business, education, and health care applications that promote economic and community prosperity.

The Federal Communications Commission recently voted to subject the Internet, once again, to legacy public utility telecommunications regulation originally designed for the old Ma Bell monopoly. While the FCC’s new rules do not push so far as to regulate retail rates (though they do regulate wholesale termination rates), the FCC’s rules open the door to potential retail rate regulation of broadband services by the states.

Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) broadband benefits are set to halt at the end of May, leaving millions of families with a difficult choice to make. For the sake of 60 million Americans who depend on ACP, the program must be renewed.

Today’s interconnected world makes it hard to imagine a day or more without internet access, but that may soon be the reality for millions of Americans when funding for a critical federal program runs out.

When Aaron Wheeler, Washington state broadband office director joined the office, he inherited a process and plans put in place by retiring broadband director Mark Vasconi, and he’s not about to slow the state’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) process down. While some states are more deliberate and trying to slow down the process of Volume 2 approval to delay the 365-day “shot clock” kicking in, Wheeler explain

Minnesota eliminated two laws that made it harder for cities and towns to build their own broadband networks. The state-imposed restrictions were repealed in an omnibus commerce policy bill signed on May 21 by Gov Tim Walz (D-MN). Minnesota was previously one of about 20 states that imposed significant restrictions on municipal broadband.

In light of changes in the way we all connect, it is time for an E-Rate program that supports the educational needs of students and library patrons and permits them to learn without limits.  In other words, under existing law, this program is set for an update that helps ensure those who count on school and library connections can use them no matter who they are, or where they go. We now seek to build on those lessons from the pandemic and modernize the E-Rate program.

United Communications snagged a cool $7.98 million through Tennessee's Middle Mile Buildout program. The local provider will use that money to lay down 267 miles of fiber to rural communities across 10 counties.

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 530 homes and small businesses in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Orangeburg County is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) RDOF auction.

Michael Baker International announced that the firm was recently selected by the Arkansas State Broadband Office (ASBO) to provide broadband grant administration systems and services. The firm will partner with ASBO to supply services for managing and administering public funding sources—including the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD), U.S.