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West Virginia Gov Jim Justice (R-WV) announced preliminary approval for close to $21 million in funding for six broadband infrastructure projects in the state. Comcast was the largest winner of this latest West Virginia broadband funding.

The Federal Communications Commission released over 80 pages of authorized bids in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. All but part of one page were bids for Mercury Wireless, which had funding released for deployments in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. Mercury CEO Garrett Wiseman confirmed that some of the authorizations were for gigabit fiber broadband and some were for 100/20 Mbps fixed wireless. Those were the two types of bids that Mercury Wireless made in the auction. Wiseman said these were the first RDOF authorizations the company received.

Regional cable operator Breezeline, formerly Atlantic Broadband, has entered into two public-private partnerships in Maryland. The larger of the two partnerships will extend broadband to 524 homes and businesses in Cecil, St Mary’s and Queen Anne’s (MD) counties. Breezeline is contributing $347,000 to that project. Other contributors are the state, which is providing $3.68 million and the counties, which will contribute $309,000. The total cost of the project is expected to be $4.3 million.

It’s been 18 months since the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction was completed and the Federal Communications Commission has not yet released funding for five of the top 10 winning bidders. It’s beginning to look like that isn’t going to happen, considering that the other five top winning bidders have had all or most of their funding released, as have scores of smaller winners. The FCC typically releases a ready-to-authorize list of RDOF winning bidders every month and recently those lists have had only a small handful of smaller bidders on them.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) of Wisconsin awarded $124,967,392 in funding for 71 projects in the state’s Broadband Expansion Grant Program. The projects, which are aimed at areas that are unserved or underserved, will bring broadband to more than 82,912 residences and 4,566 businesses in 45 counties. The projects will be supplemented by $185,780,074 in matching funds from recipients. In November 2021, Gov Tony Evers (D-WS) and PSC Chairperson Rebecca Cameron Valcq announced $100 million in broadband expansion grant funding.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has begun accepting applications to the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program and has issued 88 pages of guidance for network operators requesting funding. The program, which was created in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), has a budget of $1 billion. The applications portal is ready to accept applications just over a month after NTIA issued a notice of funding opportunity detailing rules for the program.

Dish said that it has reached an agreement with T-Mobile to use the T-Mobile Ultra Capacity 5G network to provide connectivity to Dish mobile customers and to customers of Dish’s retail wireless brands, including Boost Mobile. The agreement requires Department of Justice (DOJ) approval, and the DOJ must make a decision no later than August 14, 2022.

Indiana is positioned to be well connected with the second announcement of a statewide fiber network consortium. The newest entrant, Accord Telecommunications Collaborative, LLC, is owned by 21 electric and telephone cooperative service providers and covers 75% of the state’s land mass. Accord’s owners, which are non-profit organizations, collectively service more than 300,000 homes and businesses in Indiana. They own 20,000 miles of fiber and about 40,000 miles of electric lines. Announcements about partnerships with other providers are expected to be made in the coming weeks.