County

Berrien County’s 580 square miles encompasses 39 villages, townships, and cities. The county, situated on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore, is dominated by agriculture and tourism; many Chicago residents’ vacation homes are located here. A lack of broadband infrastructure in the county is actively threatening industrial innovation and hampering quality of life for residents as needs and demand for connectivity increase. As of today, the county has made substantial progress toward universal access within the community.

A North Carolina company is becoming recognized not only for its network expansion throughout the eastern part of the state but for its unique public-private partnerships that are bringing fiber-to-the-home in rural, underserved counties.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announces January 1, 2024 as the start date for the requirement to begin one year of pre-testing and reporting of speed and latency results for the Bringing Together Puerto Rico Fund Stage and the Connect USVI Fund Stage 2. Testing will begin on January 1, 2025. For the carriers participating in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), pre-testing will begin on January 1, 2025, and testing will begin on January 1, 2026.

Connect Humanity is investing in a fiber network in Macon County, Alabama. The Macon County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA) has been working diligently to expand internet access in the county, where 40% of families have lacked access to home internet at broadband speeds. With support from Rural LISC, MCEDA entered into a public private partnership with rural internet provider Point Broadband to build out a fiber network that would deliver quality, affordable broadband to families and businesses across the county.

A $10 million project to bring broadband to rural areas of Lancaster County (NE) is underway, thanks to federal stimulus dollars earmarked by Lancaster County commissioners for the project. The project will install 175 miles of conduit throughout Lancaster County to and between the 12 incorporated cities and villages, and 10 unincorporated communities, according to county officials. Once that's done, telecommunications companies will lease the conduit from the county to install fiber technology to bring services to residents and businesses. In January 2022, the County Board committed $10 mi

Barbara Drӧher Kline thought she knew what she was getting into when she moved halfway across the country and bought a 1890s farmhouse in rural Le Sueur county, Minnesota. Contractors advised her to tear the house down, but she loved a fixer-upper, especially after she had refined her remodeling skills on her previous home in California, a redwood log cabin near San Francisco. Drӧher Kline wasn’t scared by a rural lifestyle either. Both she and her husband, John Kline, had roots in the state, and he had grown up nearby.

Windstream is targeting roughly 8,300 additional locations in Georgia with its Kinetic fiber network, thanks to a new public-private partnership with the state’s Union County. The $20.5 million project will provide fiber to homes, businesses, and schools across Blairsville, Suches, and nearby parts of the county. Kinetic plans to lay about 550 miles of underground optical fiber cable for the deployments, which are expected to be completed in 2024. Union County is committing $11.2 million in state grant money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), along with $500,000 in matching funds.

What challenges exist at the federal, state, and local levels that delay or burden broadband deployment?  How can Congress help expedite or streamline the process for broadband deployment? Is attaching telecommunications equipment on municipally or cooperatively-owned poles more difficult or expensive than on other poles?

Georgia’s Clayton County, a growing community that includes Hartsfield Airport, has been ignored by large providers that have not upgraded their broadband facilities to support higher speeds necessary for remote work and learning. This leaves many residents, many of whom are low- or middle-income, with slow-speed DSL or cable connections. The lack of broadband facilities is just one problem for the county.