telecompetitor
Focus Broadband Completes North Carolina Fiber Project That Received State Funding
Focus Broadband has completed the final stages of a project in Brunswick County (NC). Residents and businesses in the communities of Northwest and Sandy Creek now can access gigabit speed service. Focus Broadband was awarded $1.4 million to provide high-speed Internet to more than 1,000 addresses in Brunswick County in North Carolina’s special supplementary round of the Growing Rural Economies through Access to Technology (GREAT) program.
Fiber Optic Boom Yields Fiber Test Equipment Echo Boom
The US fiber optic test equipment market will comprise over a fifth (21.3%) of the worldwide market over the next ten years, according to a new report from Future Market Insights. Fiber optic testing is becoming more critical as the telecommunications industry increasingly deploys fiber broadband and as fiber becomes an increasingly important underpinning of wireless networks. The researchers expect the worldwide fiber test equipment market to grow from $923 million in 2023 to $1.7 billion by 2033. The 10-year growth rate represents a CAGR of 6.8%.
Are Individual Broadband Map Challenges on a Different Timeline from Bulk Challenges?
The Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have recommended filing dates for bulk challenges to the National Broadband Map, which is updated twice yearly. But stakeholders hadn’t seen similar guidance from either agency about individual challenges.
Lumen Internet Backbone Gets an Upgrade (telecompetitor)
Submitted by dclay@benton.org on Fri, 04/21/2023 - 11:27VIAVI Solutions: U.S. Overtakes China in Number of Cities with 5G Deployments (telecompetitor)
Submitted by dclay@benton.org on Tue, 04/18/2023 - 10:36Washington Bill Tests Limits of State BEAD Authority
Service providers in the state of Washington are concerned about legislation pending in the state’s House of Representatives.
Segra, USIgnite Smart City Project Aims to Spur Economic Development in Greensboro (telecompetitor)
Submitted by dclay@benton.org on Wed, 04/12/2023 - 15:29State Funded Broadband Projects Get Underway in Montana
Blackfoot Communications, a provider serving rural areas of Montana and Idaho, is getting set to begin work on seven fiber deployment projects for which the company was awarded $60 million through Montana’s ConnectMT program. Blackfoot will contribute an additional $16 million toward total project costs of $76 million. Funding was awarded in December 2022, but as Chris Laslovich, public affairs manager for Blackfoot, said any company planning fiber deployments using buried cable in Montana (as Blackfoot plans to do) has to wait until this time of year or later to begin construction.
NTIA, FCC Close in on Broadband Map Data for State BEAD Allocations
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is in “close coordination” with the Federal Communications Commission regarding the update to the second version of the National Broadband Map, which will be used to determine state Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) allocations. “We are working with our colleagues at the FCC to determine when we will obtain the version of the map to use for our BEAD allocations,” an NTIA spokesperson said. NTIA is scheduled to release state BEAD allocations by June 30, 2023, and undoubtedly will need some time to work with t