Internet/Broadband

I ask this question after Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] recently withdrew her name from consideration as a Federal Communication Commissioner. But the objections to Sohn were all the kinds of smokescreens that politicians use to not admit the real reason they opposed the nomination; because she is in favor of regulating broadband and the public airwaves. The big broadband providers and the large broadcasting companies (some companies which are both) have been lobbying hard against the Sohn nomination since it was first anno

On April 1, 2023, US Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks in Lusaka, Zambia on US partnership with African nations to promote digital inclusion efforts in the continent. "The United States is committed to strengthening our partnerships across the continent of Africa with governments, with the private sector, and civil society," said the Vice President. In her remarks, Harris highlighted digital disparities faced by populations in Africa and funding opportunities announced by the White House.

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.

Brightspeed, the nation’s fifth-largest incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), announced it has officially started selling its gigabit internet service via its newly built next-generation Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network just six months after officially launching as a standalone company.

Since digital technologies first emerged about 30 years ago, Black Americans have trailed in terms of access. This “digital divide” is real, it’s important and we can do better. According to our analysis of data from the American Community Survey, 40 percent of Black Americans do not have high-speed, fixed broadband at home, compared to 28 percent of whites.

Lumos, a leading 100 percent fiber optic internet and total home wi-fi service provider in the Mid-Atlantic, announced its $56 million investment to bring fiber services to residents and businesses of New Hanover County and the City of Wilmington (NC).

AT&T, T-Mobile, UScellular and Verizon sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission saying that they agreed to voluntary commitments related to air traffic safety and the deployment of C-band spectrum. “These voluntary commitments will support full-power deployments across C-band, and are crafted to minimize the operational impact on our C-band operations,” the letter stated.

Innovative Systems of Mitchell (SD) commissioned a survey of broadband and bundled rates paid by rural residents. This is the eighth year of the survey. The 2022 survey focused on zip codes that are completely rural in order to find out about rural rates. The results come from surveys administered to 841 rural residents. The study showed that the average rate paid for rural broadband increased from $68 per month in 2021 to $71 in 2022.

Maps of broadband availability are critical inputs for targeting public programs aiming to address disparities in digital equity, such as the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. In 2020, the Broadband DATA Act called on the Federal Communications Commission to create new, more granular, maps of broadband availability in the US.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Department is investing $40 million to provide high-speed internet access for people living and working in rural areas in New Mexico. The three projects being announced today in New Mexico are: