Level of Government

Syracuse, NY, is requesting proposals for the design, implementation, and maintenance of a municipal broadband network. The pilot program, which will be paid for through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, aims to help bridge the digital divide by providing affordable internet for low-income residents, while also supporting smart city applications.

Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) has stockpiled giant reels and other materials at a storage area near Highway 24 and the Hancock Expressway. The reels contain about 130 miles of bright orange plastic tubing that will be buried when CSU begins to build its new citywide fiber network in mid-September. The 3-inch conduit will eventually contain hundreds of tiny fibers that are capable of delivering data at a gigabyte per second or more. Brian Wortinger, manager of CSU’s Fiber Optic and Telecom Enterprise, says the new fiber network will allow the utility provider to better identify the source

The nation’s leading broadband trade associations will deliver a monthly educational webinar series to support the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and State Broadband Offices with the implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Development (BEAD) Program. There are 11 associations presenting the webinar series that represent broadband providers of every size and technology across the US. The webinar series will educate state broadband leaders, the NTIA, community leaders, and potential BEAD participants on the opportunities, challenges, and mitigati

North Carolina is currently putting to work over a billion dollars from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding through a number of programs, including the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants to connect the 1.1 million households in the state unable to access the internet. Around $380 million in GREAT funding is designed to incentivize deployments to unserved rural parts of the state. The state also has a Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program to address high-cost areas where service providers are traditionally reluctant to go along with money going to uti

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Federal Communications Commission warned that some Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) providers and their agents are making fraudulent program enrollments by using the same child or dependent to qualify multiple households for simultaneous ACP support. Most households are eligible for ACP support based on the subscriber’s own participation in a qualifying federal program like SNAP or Medicaid.

An impending vote by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) could drastically change access to state and federal communications subsidies, the kind often relied upon by low-income households for Internet and telephone services. Proposed Decision 20-02-008 addresses whether recipients of federal subsidies through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and similar federal subsidy programs would also be able to receive maximum subsidies through the California LifeLine program.

North Dakota is the 19th largest state in terms of land area with more than 70,000 square miles yet is the 3rd smallest in terms of population with fewer than 800,000 residents. In too many rural areas of the U.S., residents struggle to get connected because commercial telecommunications providers are unable to recoup the cost of building infrastructure.

Frontier Communications and Windstream have collectively raked in more than $210 million worth of broadband grants across nine states thus far in 2022, as the operators look to boost their fiber expansion plans with government support. Frontier has won grants in seven states: California, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

According to publicly available information on state and local ballot initiatives up for a vote in 2022 elections, broadband is on the ballot statewide for voters in Alabama and New Mexico, as well as for some voters in Colorado. Voters in Alabama will weigh in on the "Broadband Internet Infrastructure Funding Amendment," which, if approved, will amend the state's constitution "to allow local governments to use funding provided for broadband internet infrastructure under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and award such funds to public or private entities." Voters in New Mexico have a simi

The lack of broadband in many rural and Tribal communities is widely recognized, but there are also claims of a lack of broadband availability in predominantly Minority and urban communities, sometimes labeled digital redlining or digital discrimination. Motivated by such claims, the bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) includes a specific provision to address digital discrimination and the Federal Communications Commission is currently contemplating formal rules for such.