Joan Engebretson

The Colorado Broadband Office received 112 applications from 37 entities requesting broadband funding through the Advance Colorado Broadband grant program. The total funding requested totals $643 million, which is almost four times more than the $162 million budgeted for the program. The network operators requesting the funding offered to contribute a total of almost $312 million in matching funds for projects in 47 counties. Thirty counties received one application, and 17 counties received more than one.

Comcast announced that it will roll out DOCSIS 4.0 in Colorado Springs in late October and to parts of Atlanta and Philadelphia before the end of 2023. The company claims this is a world first. “Initially, customers subscribing to X-Class Internet plans will use the newest Xfinity Advanced Gateway with a companion modem to deliver multi-gig symmetrical speeds,” said Comcast. “[In 2024], Comcast expects to introduce its first DOCSIS 4.0-capable gateways.” X-Class is a new brand name for its symmetrical internet offerings. Comcast will offer symmetrical speeds up to 2 Gbps.

AT&T increased coverage on tribal lands by more than 40 percent between 2020 and 2022, according to Rachel Salinas, president of ICAE, the Inter-Tribal Council of AT&T Employees. The company also expanded the FirstNet mobile broadband public safety network to move than 70 tribal nations. Telecompetitor reports that a recent AT&T collaboration with the Cherokee Nation brought a cellsite to Kenwood (OK) that supports FirstNet connectivity, as well as general connectivity for the tribe.

LICT is best known as a rural broadband consolidator, but several months ago the company quietly added Sound Broadband to its holdings, not through an acquisition, but organically.

When Executive Director for ConnectLA—Louisiana's broadband office—Veneeth Iyengar was asked if he was concerned that there might be areas of Louisiana that no broadband provider would want to serve, his response was, "We’re not concerned [because] it’s all in how you design the program.

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

Charter Communications won close to $16 million in funding to cover some of the costs of making broadband available in seven North Carolina counties. The funding was part of a total of $22 million awarded through the Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program. The awards were made by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT). According to the agency, the funding awarded in this round will connect 6,012 households and 164 businesses. Funding recipients must provide service at speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps, scalable to 100/100 Mbps. Projects must be completed by Dec.

Consolidated Communications will build a fiber network in Lamoille County (VT) that will be funded, in part, through the state. Consolidated will invest almost $10 million in the network and the Lamoille FiberNet communications union district (CUD) will invest $14.9 million.

Georgia has found a way to get bids for, and ultimately service to, its most unserved areas. Georgia’s Deputy State Chief Information Officer and Executive Director of the Georgia Broadband Program, Jessica Simmons, said the state's Capital Projects Fund (CPF) program, funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act,  enabled its success.

Black Rock, AT&T, and Gigapower executives shared their vision for the joint venture and how they expect to change attitudes toward open access. Adam Waltz, Managing Director of Black Rock’s Global Infrastructure Fund was excited because the company sees the US as underpenetrated when it comes to fiber broadband. Gigapower CEO Bill Hogg said, “scale will be a differentiator” beacuse the network’s scale will appeal to service providers interested in offering service over the network because “you don’t want to make [them] invest over and over with a lot of small players.” Erin Scarborough