Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

The average Charter Communications broadband-only customer is now using 700 gigabytes of data per month, according to Christopher Winfrey, the cable operator’s CFO. Winfrey said the high level of wireline broadband usage is the No. 1 reason wireless companies won’t be able to pry broadband marketshare from cable with fixed wireless products. “The average wireless customers uses only 10 gigs a month,” Winfrey said. “The difference in utilization rates is significant.

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) introduced the Rural Broadband Window of Opportunity Act to level the playing field for broadband expansion in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Specifically, the bill would require the Federal Communications Commission to prioritize the processing of broadband expansion applications located in areas with shorter build seasons.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on multiple petitions for designation as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC) for the purpose of becoming eligible to receive universal service support. The petitioners are winning bidders, or those assigned support through the division of winning bids, in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction (Auction 904). ETC designation is a prerequisite to receiving universal service support available through the high-cost and Lifeline programs.

You might think Washington state director of broadband Russ Elliott would be pleased about private companies winning $223 million in federal subsidies to expand broadband in rural WA. Instead, Elliott is frustrated. He’s under direction from WA’s Legislature to bring the entire state up to superfast internet speeds by 2028. Yet in Dec, the federal government announced plans to award hundreds of millions of dollars to companies Elliott is afraid won't meet the state’s standards. For Elliott, the awards to private-sector companies such as SpaceX and CenturyLink pose another problem as well.

Windstream is looking to leverage funds from two Federal Communications Commission programs as it expands broadband Internet and related services to new markets and customers. Kinetic, Windstream’s community broadband business, announced that it plans to participate in the FCC’s $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit program. “As soon as the FCC is ready to take this program live, we are ready to implement it so any e

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr is in Mississippi for events focused on his 5G jobs initiative, which centers on standing up community college and trade school programs so that Americans earn the skills needed to land good-paying jobs in the tower and telecommunication industries. Those programs have already been launched in SC, SD, NC, and OK. His visits will also focus on telehealth, infrastructure builds, and enhanced use of technology in K-12 classrooms.

SpaceX and Dish Network are fighting at the Federal Communications Commission over Dish's attempt to block a key designation that SpaceX's Starlink division needs in order to get FCC broadband funding. Dish's "baseless attempt" to block funding "would serve only to delay what matters most—connecting unserved Americans," said SpaceX in a filing.

A group of winners in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) reverse auction have asked the Federal Communications Commission for the opportunity to review certain information contained in the long-form applications of other winners whose bids have come into question. The filing from Ensuring RDOF Integrity Coalition (ERIC) notes seven bidders whose RDOF bids merit closer scrutiny including four wireless providers – LTD Broadband, Nextlink/ AMG Technology Group, Resound Networks, and Starry/ Connect Everyone. ERIC expresses concern that fixed wireless will not be able to provide the 1 Gb

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) doesn’t appreciate all the scorn being heaped on fixed wireless access (FWA) technology, which is coming from some groups that didn’t win as many Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) awards as they had hoped.

The faulty Federal Communications Commission national broadband map has essentially made millions of Americans without fast internet "invisible," as Microsoft put it, and unless the data improve, they're likely to remain so. But there's reason to be hopeful. Thanks to $65 million in funding from Congress in Dec, the FCC now will require internet service providers to share more detailed data, giving a better picture of what areas are unserved by broadband.