President Joe Biden’s administration recently announced a raft of nominations for various posts, but picks for four key telecommunications roles at the Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) remain outstanding. Eight months into Biden’s presidency, both agencies sit without permanent leaders.
When you think of Verizon and fiber, you tend to think of Fios, which is a fiber-based brand in the Northeast US that bundles connectivity, voice and video. But Verizon has other fiber as well, including long-haul routes, and the company is currently deploying lots of fiber as part of its 5G roll-outs. As part of its 5G/fiber rollouts, Verizon is also looking to help close the digital divide. And it sees fixed wireless access (FWA) as a technology to help with that.
AT&T is expanding free-device programs, increasing access to educational and digital literacy tools and opening the first of more than 20 AT&T Connected Learning Centers across the US. These centers will be housed within local community organizations and will provide underserved students and families with free access to the internet, computers, and educational resources. As of now, AT&T plans to open Connected Learning Centers in Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Miami, and San Francisco.
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