Internet/Broadband

X, the social media service formerly known as Twitter, slowed down access from its platform to rival sites such as Substack and Facebook, but has begun reversing an effort to restrict its users from quickly viewing news sites. The slowness, known in tech parlance as “throttling,” initially affected rival social networks including Facebook, Bluesky and Instagram, as well as the newsletter site Substack and news outlets including Reuters and The New York Times.

In 2023, 167 rural telecommunications companies in 19 states participated in this study which provides benchmark results for the 2022 balance sheet and income statement and more than 37 other key metrics. The study calculates the percentage increase in operating expenses both with and without depreciation expense. Total operating expenses increased 5.1% in 2022 and without including depreciation expense, operating expenses increased 5.2%.

Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL) awarded $7.86 million to continue expanding high-speed internet services in Alabama. The three grants, awarded from funds provided by the Alabama Legislature, will serve areas in Blount, Cullman, Marshall and Morgan counties. The expansion projects will make broadband service accessible for more than 6,700 households, businesses and community anchors. Community anchors include schools, fire and police departments, libraries, and other public buildings. Households and businesses must subscribe to paid service to receive broadband.

More than 20 million US households are now receiving discounts on internet service as part of Federal Communications Commission's Affordable Connectivity Program. The program has continued to gain more than half a million new households a month since February 2023.

Working from home became necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a survey done by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research during May of 2020, 42% of all US workers worked from home and accounted for two-thirds of the nation’s gross domestic product. Therefore, work from home has become a feasible economic development strategy at the onset of COVID-19. This study gauges the contribution of workers from home in Indiana in 2021 by using the Regional Economic Modeling, Inc. (REMI) general equilibrium model.

With the end of the fiscal year quickly approaching,  the Administration is transmitting a supplemental funding request to the Congress to address three sets of critical needs for emergency funding as part of a potential short-term continuing resolution for the first quarter of FY 2024: assistance for Ukraine and other foreign policy priorities, US disaster assistance, and border security.

On July 24, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission authorized a new subsidy program, Enhanced A-CAM (Alternate Connect America Cost Model). This program will extend subsidies to small, regulated telephone companies at a cost of about $1.27 billion per year for ten years.

Ting Internet's (a division of Tucows) 2-gigabit fiber internet is now available in initial Colorado Springs (CO) neighborhoods. Customers in Colorado Springs will now be able to sign up for Ting's 2-gigabit fiber internet for $89 per month, providing both download and upload speeds of 2,000 megabits per second (Mbps). Ting will also offer 2-gigabit symmetrical internet to all Colorado Springs residents who qual

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s Digital Equity Act recognizes eight “covered populations” as disproportionately experiencing digital inequity. One group is individuals living in households with incomes at or below 150 percent of the poverty line.  In the United States, people living in poverty tend to be clustered in certain regions, counties, and neighborhoods rather than evenly spread across the nation. Research has shown that living in areas where poverty is prevalent creates impediments beyond people’s individual circumstances.