A comprehensive plan to improve access to broadband services in Michigan will be developed under an Executive Order signed by Gov Rick Snyder (R-MI).
Even as AT&T continues to expand its fiber optic network to condominium and apartment complexes in Burlington (NC) — AT&T says that at least 10 condominium and apartment complexes are connected to its fiber optic network — most city residents and businesses don't have access to fiber optic Internet. Instead, they get their Internet service through slower cable or DSL lines. The average speed is 41.4 megabits per second, according to Broadband Now, a nonprofit company that tracks Internet access in cities around the country.
Like network neutrality, publicly-owned broadband is a topic that’s often murky, as major players seek to establish their own set of facts and define the issue based on their own priorities. Outside cash, for or against, pours in to fight the issue. Comcast, for its part, is a known contributor to industry associations that have put up large chunks of change to fight municipal broadband legislation at the grassroots level, such as in Fort Collins (CO) where city officials recently approved building out a municipal network.
The Federal Communications Commission announced a settlement with AT&T’s FiberTower that involves the company returning hundreds of millimeter wave spectrum licenses to the agency. The settlement essentially means AT&T won’t get access to those spectrum licenses, and it paves the way for the agency to reauction those licenses at some point in the future. Specifically, as part of the agreement, FiberTower is abandoning all of its 24 GHz spectrum licenses (around 121 total) and roughly the same number of 39 GHz spectrum licenses.
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