CARES Act broadband funding helped enable the town of Bristol, New Hampshire, to deploy 24 miles of fiber to pass 400 Bristol residences and connect to Plymouth State University. The CARES Act funding was a $1.52 million grant. In a separate project, additional fiber backbone and fiber distribution will be deployed to connect all Bristol municipal, educational and commercial buildings with funding through a Northern Border Regional Commission grant and town appropriation.

Gov Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) announced his proposal to enact a first-in-the-nation requirement for affordable internet for all low-income families as part of the 2021 State of the State agenda.

Buggy websites and complex online tools are being used to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments across the United States. The systems are hard to navigate for many people, but they’re particularly inaccessible for older adults.

House  Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued a request for comment on how to administer Round 2 of the agency’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which received an additional $249.95 million in support as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.

In order to move quickly but also deliver a successful and efficient Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, the Commission should make its decisions with the following principles in mind:

State governments around the country responded quickly to the strain on broadband networks during the COVID pandemic. They ramped up their creative problem-solving and increased their coordination with other states and the federal government.

On this special live episode of Tech on the Rocks, Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn sits down with former Federal Communications Commission Acting Chair and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn as well as Benton Senior Fellow and Former FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet to discuss the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society's new report: Broadband for America Now. The report, authored by Sallet, lays out a bold vision for delivering robust broadband to all Americans, regardless of geography and socio-econo

More than nine months after the national COVID-19 emergency was declared, Congress has directed the Federal Communications Commission to create an emergency broadband benefit, a monthly discount on broadband internet access service for low-income people. On January 4, the FCC released a Public Notice asking for comment on how to best implement this new program which Congress expects to be up and running in the next two months. Here's a look at what the FCC is asking.

On December 27, 2020, President Donald Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Consolidated Appropriations Act or Act). Section 904 of Division N – Additional Coronavirus Response and Relief, Title IX – Broadband Internet Access Service, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act establishes an Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund of $3.2 billion and directs the Federal Communications Commission to use that fund to establish an Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, under which eligible households may receive a discount off the cost of broadband service and certain connected devi