On November 24 the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will begin accepting applications for up to $1.15 billion in loans and grants to expand the availability of broadband in rural areas.
Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) President and CEO Gary Bolton said, "It feels like the tide has changed where experienced providers are now realizing there’s a role for them to help, whether it’s a utility or a municipality or any community effort to put broadband in." Bolton noted the topic of public-private partnerships emerged unexpectedly as a key theme of FBA's Fiber Connect conference in July.
The Senate has passed the bipartisan State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act, which could free up potentially hundreds of billions more for
Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (including Public Knowledge, New America, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Access Humboldt, Center for Rural Strategies, Tribal Digital Village, the Institute for Local Self Reliance, and the Schools, Health, Libraries & Broadband Coalition) filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission in response to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on regulatory fees for 2021. The filing outlines why the Commission should reject its flawed and confusing proposal to require unlicensed spectrum users to pay regulatory fees.
Republican members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Committee wrote Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, requesting information regarding the status of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their service to Americans in rural communities. A lack of competition and overreporting of access to broadband has plagued rural Americans with terrible customer service and unreliable internet access.
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