Level of Government

The North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s Division of Broadband and Digital Equity (NCDIT) has announced that FOCUS Broadband is a recipient of two Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program awards. The $5.4 million in awarded CAB funding will allow FOCUS Broadband to extend their fiber optic network in both Chowan and Perquimans counties, bringing high-speed internet to an additional 800 rural homes and businesses.

To bridge the digital divide, the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) will award Kinetic $4.4 million to bring high-speed fiber internet to unserved areas in two counties. This grant will enable Kinetic to significantly expand its fiber-optic network in Cabarrus and Union counties by the end of 2026, bringing gigabit internet speeds to 1,392 previously unserved locations. Kinetic will invest $1.9 million of private capital in this fiber-to-the-home project and cover any cost overruns.

Despite problems with the wider U.S. economy, demand for broadband and consumer take rates for increasing speeds has not slowed.

I recently testified at a Senate Communications Subcommittee Hearing in support of legislation to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

On June 17, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, in partnership with the Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, hosted a webinar titled The Power of Partnership: State Strategies for Digital and Educational Equity.

Breezeline, LICT Corporation, and Longmont Power & Communications are the latest broadband providers to offer an alternative to the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which offered a $30 per month discount on internet service to low-income households and was terminated in May. The new programs from these companies offer discounted service to low-income households that were on the ACP and in two cases offer the lower-cost service to new households that meet the income eligibility requirements. Though each company’s discount offering is slightly different—both in

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has rejected a bid by AT&T to no longer be the “carrier of last resort” for phone service in California. The ruling is a win for people who still use landlines. Being a carrier of last resort requires the company to provide basic telephone service. That often means installing and maintaining old fashioned copper landlines for those who have nothing else, and the state’s biggest carrier of last resort is AT&T.

It looks like Congress will remain deadlocked over how to release spectrum for 5G.

Wyoming-based Visionary Broadband’s got quite the resume in both the fiber and wireless space. Visionary won nearly $27 million in ARPA grant awards to provide fiber broadband in remote areas of Wyoming. It’s also got a foothold in Colorado, Montana and Washington state. State grants have helped Visionary recently gain seven new markets, said CEO Brian Worthen. Those include three markets in Colorado, two in Montana and two in Wyoming.

American Indian and Alaska Natives living in tribal areas have among the nation’s lowest rates of high-speed internet access in the United States.