Internet/Broadband

A report from Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) highlights some of the problems and issues of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program. Sen. Cruz's first criticism of BEAD is that the allocation gives too much funding to places that have good broadband and don’t need the money—like Washington (DC) and Delaware.

Jason Kronemeyer, the Director of Technology at Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District (EUPISD), has been relentlessly working towards enhancing educational outcomes in the region. Along the way, he grew into the role of a broadband champion. Jason's fervent desire to accelerate student learning, coupled with unconventional strategies of “connecting the dots” over decades have played an essential role in attracting infrastructure construction and driving broadband adoption.

The Federal Communications Commission committed $37.7 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, which provides digital tools and services to support students in communities across the country. This funding commitment supports applications from the third application window, benefitting approximately 100,000 students nationwide, including students in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington. This funding commitment supports approximately 220 schools and school districts, 2 library systems, and 4 consortia.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced carriers that have accepted offers of model-based Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) support. Carriers were required to elect such support on a state-by-state basis by Friday, September 29, 2023 by submitting an election letter to the Bureau.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act Programs are critical for communities in need of access to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet. Recently, NTIA requested input from our stakeholders through a Request for Comment (RFC).

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) is employing Render Networks' construction management platform to handle the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) expansions for its Glo Fiber brand—which offers multi-gigabit broadband internet access, live streaming TV and digital home phone service in183,000 households across Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Render's platform will be used in all markets where Shentel is building, and is already in three markets right now. The network construction platform leverages geospatial, task-level data for automation.

The debate around “net neutrality” is back, only this time there is even less chance that the matter will be settled for good. Consumers’ online rights still need protection, and restoring them for an open internet is worthwhile. Those pointing to internet service providers’ (ISP) “good behavior” are being disingenuous at best. The 2018 decision to reverse the Federal Communications Commission's earlier net neutrality rule was being challenged in court until 2020, by which point several states had set up or had in motion their own net neutrality regulations in the absence of a federal one.

LICT is best known as a rural broadband consolidator, but several months ago the company quietly added Sound Broadband to its holdings, not through an acquisition, but organically.

Matt Varilek is fortunate as the new Commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to have internet that is fast enough for him to have remote meetings at home in rural Benton County (MN). But not everyone in Greater Minnesota has that ability, which is why delivering broadband across the state is a passion of his.

At the upcoming Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from October 8 to 12 in Kyoto, Japan, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications & Information, Alan Davidson, will join government officials from the European Commission, Kenya, and IGF host Japan to convene a multi-stakeholder dialogue on how to realize the principles enshrined in the Declaration for the Future of th