Press Release

FOCUS Broadband has completed work to bring fiber optic high-speed internet to rural communities near Magnolia, Rose Hill, and Teachey (NC). These projects were made possible through two grants totaling more than $2.5 million dollars awarded in 2020 through North Carolina's Growing Rural Economies through Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant Program as well as the Special Supplementary Round of the GREAT Grant Program. FOCUS Broadband contributed more than $1 million dollars in matching funds to bring service to these rural areas in Duplin County.

The Media and Democracy Project (MAD) filed a petition to deny the broadcast license renewal application for Fox Corp-owned television station FOX 29 Philadelphia (WTXF-TV). MAD filed the objection before the Federal Communications Commission, alleging that senior management of Fox Corporation (FOX) manipulated its audience by knowingly broadcasting false news about the 2020 election. Its intentional and chronic news distortion further divided the country, sowing discord that was a contributing factor to the attack on our nation's Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Some 8,200 homes, businesses and schools in unserved and underserved parts of Lumpkin County (GA) will, for the first time, be eligible for high-speed fiber internet. The $20.4 million project, to provide fiber broadband to Dahlonega and throughout the county, is expected to be completed in 2024. It is a result of a public–private partnership between the county and Kinetic. The county will use about $6.9 million in state grant money from the federal government.

President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak to be commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission. Ferguson is the Solicitor General of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He oversees the appellate litigation of Virginia and its agencies; represents Virginia before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Virginia and the federal courts of appeals; and defends Virginia’s statutes and regulations from constitutional challenge.

Right now, the wireless network equipment market is highly consolidated, with just a few companies supplying the equipment necessary to support a network. But Open Radio Access Networks, or Open RAN, would unlock that system to allow different companies to compete to supply equipment for different parts of the network. The US Government believes in the promise of these networks.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information April McClain-Delaney traveled to Jackson (TN) with Senior Advisor to the President and White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu to celebrate new fiber optic cable production in the US made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative, a key component of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) requires the use of Made-in-America materials and products for federally funded infrastructure projects, including high-speed

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)awarded grants totaling $8,394,947.57 to 17 Tribes as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program: 

Just as the Federal Communications Commission is launching the Learn Without Limits initiative to update E-Rate to better meet the connectivity needs of today and the future, the FCC's July 2023 Open Meeting will feature an opportunity to get a previous E-Rate reform over the finish line. Here are all the items we’ve lined up:

The Federal Communications Commission committed nearly $29 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, which provides digital tools and services to support students in communities across the country. The commitment supports applications from the third application window, benefitting approximately 65,000 students nationwide, including students in California, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.