Broadband news digest
Legal memos filed in recent days in the case against a former lawyer for the 2016 Clinton campaign, Michael Sussmann, reignited disputes over special counsel John Durham’s continuing probe into the origins of the FBI’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Durham said in a filing that his office would show at Sussmann’s trial
Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Executive Director Adrianne B Furniss announced the 2022 Charles Benton Digital Equity Award winners at The National Digital Inclusion Alliance's Net Inclusion 2022 event. "We are here to honor three people who have demonstrated commitment, innovation, leadership, and collaboration: the very skills we need to navigate us through very trying, interlocking crises—and to steer us to a more equitable, more just society," said Furniss.
Visionary Broadband in Wyoming focuses on providing quality internet service by customizing products for underserved and rural markets, with a recent emphasis on fiber technology. The company was founded 27 years ago in a small, blue house by three friends who merely wanted internet access. Once they figured out how to get themselves connected, they began getting requests to help others get access as well. Twenty-seven years later, Visionary Broadband employs around 160 people. The idea that the internet could and should be available to anyone was the reason Visionary Broadband came to be.
Vodafone is working with US-based AST SpaceMobile to plan a satellite strategy so that customers in remote locations can use their existing mobile devices to access voice and data services. Vodafone has 300 million mobile subscribers across Europe and Africa, along with 28 million fixed broadband customers. Vodafone's Chief Technology Officer Johan Wibergh said that the company has invested in and partnered with AST SpaceMobile with the aim of closing vast coverage gaps using a planned network of satellites.
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
The European Commission has approved plans for a €6 billion satellite internet system to compete with the likes of Amazon and SpaceX, despite previous objections from its internal watchdog. Brussels’ initiative to provide encrypted broadband coverage was twice rejected by the European Commission’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board. The board, which vets impact assessments for proposals put forward by the commission, believed the scheme would waste money and compete with commercial services.
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) announced a multi-year, $10 million grant from Google.org to create a National Digital Navigator Corps.
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