Universal Broadband
FCC Proposes $500M Rural Broadband Funding Injection
Federal Communications Commission rural broadband funding could increase by over $500 million if the commission votes to adopt an order circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The the funding would include about $180 million for the current funding year for the nation’s smaller rate-of-return (ROR) carriers who get their support through traditional legacy mechanisms and up to $360 million over the next 10 years to ROR carriers who receive support based on the FCC's Alternative-Connect America Cost Mode (A-CAM). The $500 million would come, in part, from reserves.
Reps Eshoo and McKinley Introduce ‘Dig Once’ Legislation to Reduce Cost of Expanding Broadband
Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and David B. McKinley (R-WV) introduced the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2018. This commonsense legislation, commonly referred to as ‘Dig Once’, would mandate the inclusion of broadband conduit—plastic pipes which house fiber-optic communications cable—during the construction of any road receiving federal funding. This practice will eliminate the need to dig up recently-paved roads to expand broadband infrastructure, significantly reducing the cost of increasing Internet access to underserved communities across the country.
Washington’s next big tech battle: closing the country’s digital divide
President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are forging ahead with new plans to boost high-speed internet around the country, hoping that their signature crusade — deregulation — might help spur better web access in the country’s hardest-to-reach rural areas. The bid to boost broadband is expected to become a small but critical component of infrastructure reform, a still-evolving proposal that could set aside $200 billion in federal funds to upgrade the guts of the United States — including aging roads, bridges and tunnels.
Reaching rural America with broadband internet service
[Commentary] All across the US, rural communities’ residents are being left out of modern society and the 21st century economy. I’ve traveled to Kansas, Maine, Texas and other states studying internet access and use – and I hear all the time from people with a crucial need still unmet. Rural Americans want faster, cheaper internet like their city-dwelling compatriots have, letting them work remotely and use online services, to access shopping, news, information and government data.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s BroadbandUSA Program, in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, will host a Broadband Summit about ‘‘Creating Partnerships to Ensure Access for All’’ on March 20, 2018. Speakers and attendees from Tennessee, federal agencies, and across the country will come together to explore ways to increase broadband deployment and improve broadband adoption to advance their overarching business, social, economic, and community goals.
House Communications Subcommittee Reps Introduce First Round of Broadband Infrastructure Bills
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced a series of bills introduced by subcommittee members aimed at reducing the regulatory barriers to broadband infrastructure expansion:
FCC Chairman Pai Proposes Over $500 Million In Funding To Promote Rural Broadband Deployment
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai shared with his fellow commissioners an order to promote more high-speed broadband deployment in rural areas. If adopted, it would provide over $500 million in additional funding for cooperatives and small rural carriers. The order would also put in place strong new rules to prevent abuse of the high-cost program.
Will San Francisco's City-Wide Fiber Optic Network Succeed? 10 Tech Pros Weigh In
Imagine a metropolitan area in which every single home and business was connected to a municipal fiber-optic network and the internet was a public utility as accessible as electricity or water. That's exactly what San Francisco (CA) has pledged to do, making it the first major city in America to commit to such a project. Ten Forbes Technology Council members shared their thoughts on whether the city's massive tech undertaking will sink or swim, and what roadblocks they might encounter along the way.
Building America’s 21st Century Broadband Infrastructure: It’s Time We All Got Connected.
[Commentary] The week of Jan 8, after President Donald Trump signed two significant executive orders on improving broadband infrastructure, members of the House Communications Subcommittee introduced four resolutions laying out our principles for broadband expansion nationwide. The resolutions include prioritizing infrastructure funding to areas that are currently unserved, easing the regulatory process, ensuring coordination among all levels of government, and establishing clear, consistent rules regardless of broadband technology.
Electric co-ops eager to expand broadband connections to rural areas
Many of the power cooperatives that helped electrify rural Tennessee in the 1930s and 1940s are gearing up for a similar effort to bring high-speed broadband to rural areas not connected to today's information superhighway. But similar to electrification of the South in the early 20th century, the telecommunications upgrades for rural broadband are likely to be costly and take years or even decades to fully implement.