Universal Broadband

Devon Braunstein is taking the helm as Deputy Director of the Illinois Office of Broadband at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Matt Schmit is poised to join the Illinois Broadband Lab at the University of Illinois System as Senior Director for Broadband.

Windstream, Colquitt Electric Membership Cooperative (EMC) and Lowndes County (GA), are teaming up on a $39 million public-private partnership to bring broadband to about 16,000 locations in the county. Windstream is contributing about $17.6 million. The other $21.7 million is funded through the Georgia State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the county. Windstream will handle cost overruns. The project, which will provide multi-gigabit service to users, will include 806 miles of fiber.

Speaker Johnson, it is time to call a vote. In less than four weeks, over 23 million U.S.

On June 6, initial comments are due in the Federal Communications Commission's recurring proceeding that assesses the state of competition in the communications marketplace, including broadband. In its last Communications Marketplace Report, published in December 2022, the FCC pointed to the potential for more competitive broadband markets.

This report summarizes information about Internet access in the United States as of June 30, 2022, as collected by FCC Form 477 and the Broadband Data Collection (BDC). [For purposes of this report, Internet access is defined as a service that allows information to be sent to or received from the Internet with a speed of at least 200 kilobits per second.] Total connections increased by about 3.4% between June 2021 and June 2022 to 517 million.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) updated guidance regarding location and broadband coverage in the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (Enhanced ACAM) mechanism. Specifically, to best reflect deployment as of the August 30, 2023 offer, the Bureau will use FCC Broadband Data Collection broadband availability data as of June 30, 2023 to determine deployment obligations and support for locations in the December 2023 Serviceable Location Fabric for which such availability data are available.

The Affordable Connectivity Program is about to run out—and Congress is watching it happen. When the ACP was created in 2021 as part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $14.2 billion Congress allocated was expected to last five years. But demand for the benefit was so high that in January the Federal Communications Commission announced the program would be winding down at the end of April, after just three years.

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 1,300 homes and small businesses near the communities of Famous, Moscow Mills, New Hope and Troy, Missouri.

In a step toward transforming Memphis (TN) into the nation's most digitally-equitable large city, Mayor Paul Young (D) broke ground on Memphis' first citywide fiber network. Memphis' median fixed broadband speeds currently rank among the slowest of any major US cities and less than 25 percent of residents have access to superior fiber internet. The citywide infrastructure being designed, built, financed, and managed by Blue Suede Networks, is being designed to pass 85 percent of Memphis' business and residential premises, including 85 percent in low-income communities.

Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) and Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced that Tennessee will award $162.7 million in broadband and digital opportunity grants. In total, these investments will provide broadband access and digital opportunity programs to more than 236,000 Tennesseans across 92 counties. With this announcement, TNECD has invested more than $715 million to expand the state’s broadband infrastructure, connecting more than 689,000 Tennesseans across 275,000 residential and business locations.