Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

How can the Farm Bill help close the digital divide in rural America? There are a few areas that we could start with, and Sascha Meinrath, the Palmer Chair in telecommunications at Penn State University, says the first one won’t cost the government a dime. “The Farm Bill could include a mandate that says anytime a provider reports to a federal agency that they provide service at an address, they must provide that service within 30 days or get fined $10,000 a day until they do,” says Meinrath. In other words, force the ISPs to show verification that they are doing what they claim.

Charter Communications announced a nearly $1.25 billion investment in Ohio through its companywide network evolution project and broadband expansion commitments. The investment will enable the delivery of symmetrical gigabit and multi-gigabit speeds across the state, rural broadband expansion programs in Ohio and other customer-benefiting projects. Charter is investing nearly $500 million in a network evolution project in Ohio; the project is expected to be substantially complete across the company’s Ohio service area by the end of 2025. Charter is also expanding its fiber-optic network to

NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association launched its new “Broadband Built to Last” ad campaign, which aims to educate policymakers and the public on the critical role the Universal Service Fund plays in getting and keeping rural consumers connected to high quality, affordable broadband service. 

GeoLinks has a lot going on with fixed wireless access (FWA), Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) deployments, gig+ speed offers, and spectrum bands. The company has more licenses in the 28 GHz band than any other license holder and "that will give us the opportunity to look into other states in the future,” said COO Ryan Adams. Investments from Rock Mountain Capital and JLC Infrastructure make GeoLinks' expansion plans possible and help GeoLinks build upon their signi

The goal of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) $40+ billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program is to ensure that everyone in the United States has access to reliable, high-speed, and affordable broadband. Part of the challenge is how to treat areas where funding already has been awarded for broadband deployment. Will all awardees perform as expected?

There have been several lawsuits over the last few years that challenge the legitimacy of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund (USF). A suit from a non-profit group called Consumers’ Research argues that USF fees are taxes and that the original creation of the USF was unconstitutional since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 gave the FCC the power to levy taxes.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 8.3 million households lack access to high-speed broadband. Providing universal access to communications service—initially voice service and now broadband—has always been a challenge in the United States. Although connecting urban, populated areas is relatively easy, serving sparsely populated rural areas is difficult due to differences in terrain and population density.

Two broad proposals have been advanced to modernize the Universal Service Fund's contributions system: 1) expanding the contribution base to include revenues from broadband internet access service, and 2) broadening the USF contribution base to include entities including edge providers such as streaming video providers, digital advertising firms, and cloud services companies. The most economically efficient option for reform is to expand the contribution base to include broadband internet access service revenues.

In June, the Biden administration allocated $42.45 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding among states—the largest single pot of federal broadband spending in our country’s history. Biden officials at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) made these allocations despite repeated requests from lawmakers and communities across the country to first improve the data underlying NTIA’s funding decisions.

Spectrum launched the Internet, Mobile, TV, and Voice services to more than 200 homes and small businesses in Craven County, North Carolina. Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Craven County is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF)-related investment in unserved rural communities, which includes $1 billion won in the Federal Communications Commission’s RDOF auction.