Telecommunication

Trail of tweets haunts President Biden’s FCC and FTC nominees

Republican senators are alleging that the Twitter histories of Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] and Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya, which include jabs at Fox News and

Comcast buys 2 small municipal internet businesses in Massachusetts

Braintree Electric Light Department (BELD) — a nonprofit, publicly owned power utility and broadband internet provider — announced it has sold its internet business to Comcast. The sales price was not disclosed. BELD said the deal will have no impact on its electric division. BELD’s approximately 2,500 internet and phone customers will have their service transferred to Comcast, beginning this year. Comcast has already been an incumbent provider in Braintree (MA) for 18 years. Comcast also announced it was buying Russell Municipal Cable TV in Springfield (MA).

Gov Pritzker Announces Accelerate Illinois Broadband Infrastructure Planning Program

Gov JB Pritzker (D-IL) and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Office of Broadband announced the Accelerate Illinois Broadband Infrastructure Planning Program. The program – a collaborative effort by the Illinois Office of Broadband, Illinois-based Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and University of Illinois Extension – will help local governments throughout Illinois receive expert support as they prepare to leverage new dollars that will be made available by the state as well as through the historic passage of the federal infrastructure program.

President Biden's FCC pick will be instrumental in net neutrality fight

Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society], President Joe Biden's pick to fill the vacant seat on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, will pave the way for the restoration of Obama-era net neutrality protections if confirmed by the US Senate.

Alaska is expecting infrastructure funds for broadband efforts

Alaska could receive more than $1 billion from the recently passed federal infrastructure package for high-speed broadband networks. According to Alaska Telecom Association executive director Christine O'Connor, that amount of funding would be “transformational.” “We’ve never seen an environment like this before for broadband,” she said. O’Connor was a member of a broadband task force established by Gov Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) that recently released a report on improving internet access.

What rural Louisiana stands to gain from the infrastructure law

Residents of St. Helena Parish (LA) have long driven on roads that seem to cave in as quickly as they’re fixed. However, local officials are lauding President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law as a chance for change. Broadband internet and roads — two resources that draw frequent complaints in this rural parish with deeply-rooted infrastructure troubles — are key areas the massive bill targets. It holds $65 billion for internet upgrades nationwide, and $110 billion to refurbish bridges and roads.

New generation of smaller alternative networks in UK are forcing incumbents to increase investment in broadband

There was once a time when the words “fixed line” turned investors cold — as the extraordinary growth of wireless telecoms and mobile data made cabling seem antiquated. Yet, in the age of full-fibre broadband, those tables have turned.  Investors are backing a new generation of smaller, alternative cabled networks — dubbed “alt-nets” — forcing larger incumbents to increase their investment in broadband.

Mayor Scott announces plan to use $35 million of federal money to close Baltimore broadband gap

Mayor Brandon Scott (D-MD) is announcing Baltimore's latest investment with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars: $35 million focused on the administration’s efforts to close the digital divide. Following his early commitment to address digital disparity, the Mayor has continued to champion efforts to close Baltimore’s digital and broadband divide, with nearly 100,000 city households facing barriers to internet access at home — exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sens Wicker and Thune introduce the NTIA Reauthorization and Reform Act

 Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Reauthorization and Reform Act (S.3288). The NTIA Reauthorization and Reform Act would:

 

Minnesota Broadband Task Force Urges Gov Tim Walz to Expedite Federal Funding Allocations

On November 29, Chair of the Minnesota Governor's Task Force on Broadband Teddy Bekele and members of the Task Force sent a letter to Gov Tim Walz (D-MN) urging the state government to expedite the distribution of federal broadband funding. In the letter, Bekele and the Task Force cite American Rescue Plan funds that the state is slated to receive, specifically through the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, that would bolster the Minnesota Border-to-Border Broadband Infrastructure grant program.

Are we seeing a once in a generation shift in our approach to Universal Service?

For years, the Federal Communications Commission has administered the Universal Service Fund (USF), overseeing four programs designed to bring connectivity to rural areas, to target institutions like schools, libraries and healthcare facilities and to low-income consumers. Temporary COVID-19 connectivity programs appear to have presaged a shift from the FCC defining universal service programs to Congress appropriating funding and directing the future of universal service, all the while shifting the primary administrator of the funding.

Atlantic Broadband Launches Fiber Expansion Initiative

Atlantic Broadband, the US’s eighth-largest cable operator, announced a major growth plan that will extend fiber services into communities not previously served by the company. Atlantic Broadband will invest $82 million in its current fiscal year to extend its reach to nearly 70,000 additional homes and businesses, providing Gig internet, home WiFi, Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) and voice services via advanced Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) technology.

Which States Have Dedicated Broadband Offices, Task Forces, Agencies, or Funds?

States differ in how they manage broadband deployment and which agencies or offices they task with identifying challenges, charting goals, and encouraging investment. Some states have a centralized office responsible for managing or coordinating broadband efforts. In others, multiple agencies have jurisdiction over broadband. More than half of states have established dedicated funds to support the deployment of high-speed internet, and many have developed goals, plans, and maps for expansion of access.

NAB CEO Gordon Smith Expresses Concern Over FCC Nominee Gigi Sohn

In response to the nomination of Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) President and CEO Gordon Smith expressed concern over Sohn's involvement with streaming service Locast. Sohn was a board member at Locast, a non-profit streaming service that transmitted local broadcast signals over the internet. In September 2021, Locast suspended service due to a federal judge's ruling centering on copyright issues.

Measuring digital development: Facts and figures 2021

A new report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), reveals strong global growth in Internet use, with the estimated number of people who have used the Internet surging to 4.9 billion in 2021, from an estimated 4.1 billion in 2019. This comes as good news for global development. However, ITU data confirms that the ability to connect remains profoundly unequal. An estimated 37 percent of the world's population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never used the Internet.

President Biden’s FCC and FTC picks make final pitch to Senate

Ahead of the December 1 vote in the Senate Commerce Committee, Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who’s been re-nominated to another term as commissioner, and Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya answered questions from lawmakers on topics ranging from broadband and spectrum use to social media use and antitrust. Rosenworcel told senators point-blank that she had no plans to regulate broadband rates — a concern prompted after she previously seemed open to the option as a way to increase broadband access.

The staggeringly high price of a prison phone call

In the United States’ jails and prisons, many incarcerated people are charged steep fees to make phone calls to the outside world. The correctional telecom industry rakes in more than $1.4 billion annually from prisoner phone calls.

How the $4 Trillion Flood of Covid Relief Is Funding the Future

Out of the $65 billion allocated to broadband in the recent infrastructure law, the bulk — $45 billion — is for installing broadband, compared with $17 billion for ongoing access and subsidy grants.

Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect and Expand Rural Broadband Access

Co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Broadband Caucus Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen John Thune (R-SD) introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen the funding mechanisms for the Universal Service Fund (USF), which promotes universal access to broadband and other telecommunications services. The USF -- which includes programs to support broadband access in rural communities, facilitate rural health care, and expand access to affordable broadband service for low-income families, schools, and libraries -- is largely funded by fees imposed on landlines.

Infrastructure law’s digital equity goals are key to smart cities that work for everyone

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act comes at a time when smart-city initiatives, which aim to use technology to make cities more responsive to their residents’ needs, are growing more common around the world.

Transition of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program into the Affordable Connectivity Program

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act retains the basic structure of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program in the creation of a longer-term broadband affordability program to be called the Affordable Connectivity Program. In our first article, we looked at some of the bigger changes coming for broadband providers and consumers currently in the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program.

Bluepeak wants to turn flyover states into fiber country with 250,000 new passings

The central US appears to have caught the eye of equity investors, with Bluepeak becoming the latest privately-funded fiber company to plot a major expansion there. Right now, Bluepeak offers service to around 60,000 subscribers in South Dakota and parts of western Minnesota under the name Vast Broadband. Planned investments include a $140 million build in Oklahoma to bring fiber to more than 140,000 homes and businesses across the state.

Infrastructure Bill May Significantly Boost Tennessee Broadband

The $65 billion allocated to improve broadband internet access in the infrastructure law President Biden signed November 15 should make broadband more accessible and affordable for lower-income households across the US, including the 13 percent of Tennessee households that lack any broadband connections to the internet. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently praised Chattanooga (TN)'s city-owned utility, EPB, for pioneering the first citywide Gig internet service as part of its fiber-optic network built more than a decade ago to create a smarter and more versatile electric grid.

High-speed internet could be coming to Antarctica

Despite its central role in Antarctic research, the McMurdo Station is lacking something most scientists working at 21st-century laboratories take for granted: high-speed internet. McMurdo sits on the only continent that doesn’t have a high-speed fiber optic cable connection to the rest of the world. In early 2021, the National Science Foundation began seriously exploring the possibility of building a fiber optic cable that would travel along the seafloor from Antarctica to neighboring New Zealand or Australia.