SatelliteInternet.com published a report based on more than 1 million internet speed tests in rural cities: communities with populations of less than 10,000 people that are at least an hour away from the nearest major city. Over the last ten months, the national average for all rural speed tests increased from 39.01Mbps to 45.9Mbps, which is encouraging. The rural areas with high internet speeds: Boardman, OR (103.8Mbps), Madisonville, LA (101.7Mbps), Rifle, CO (96.7Mbps), Pulaski, VA (96.6Mbps), Seaford, DE (96.4Mbps), Ware, MA (92.0Mbps), Barnegat, NJ (90.1Mbps), Lock Haven, PA (89.5Mbps), Cotati, CA (89.0Mbps), Valley, AL (86.6Mbps), Winchester, CA (85.9Mbps), Avon, CO (83.2Mbps), El Cerrito (82.8Mbps), Inwood, WV (82.4Mbps), Reedsburg, WI (81.3Mbps), Mahopac, NY (79.8Mbps), Scottsville, KY (79.7Mbps), Erwin, TN (78.8Mbps), Ruckersville, VA (78.7Mbps), and Chilhowie, VA (77.9Mbps).

The rural cities with the lowest internet speeds: Hyden, KY (4.2 Mbps), White Hall, AR (5.4 Mbps), Yale, MI (5.9 Mbps), Farmington, ME (6.4 Mbps), Stevensville, MT (6.6 Mbps), Stowe, VT (7.3 Mbps), Blue Hill, ME (7.3 Mbps), Fairfax, VT (7.5 Mbps), Caldwell, TX (7.7 Mbps), Mountain View, AR (7.7 Mbps), Winnemucca, NV (8.3 Mbps), Bellville, OH (8.3 Mbps), Mariposa, CA (8.6 Mbps), Kingston, WA (9.2 Mbps), Merrill, WI (10.3 Mbps), Linden, TN (10.9 Mbps), Sylva, NC (11 Mbps), Pecos, TX (11.1 Mbps), Spring Hill, KS (11.2 Mbps), and Grayson, KY (11.2 Mbps).

Ligado Networks is raising $3.85 billion in expensive new financing to stay out of bankruptcy. The company's survival could be crucial to the long sought-after, and sometimes controversial, dream of deploying a nationwide 5G network. JPMorgan bankers presented Ligado’s bond deal earlier with juicy interest payments of 13% on the highest priority notes and 16% on the more junior notes. But that wasn't good enough — the bank changed the terms Oct 15 in order to drum up more demand. Ligado reduced the amount it is borrowing from $4.3 billion, and is now offering to pay a 15.5% coupon on the more senior notes and 17.5% on the junior bond.

Only six weeks after its launch, last week marked a major milestone for the Alabama Broadband Connectivity for Students Program: We have connected more than 100,000 low-income students statewide and the number grows by the thousands each day. These Alabama students now have reliable broadband service—paid for by the State of Alabama—that enables them to do homework and distance learn, with the cost of broadband removed as a barrier to learning. The ABC for Students Program is part of how Alabama is confronting the challenges of supporting our students in the midst of pandemic. In late July, as it became clear that some Alabama schools would use distance learning for some of the upcoming school year, Gov. Kay Ivey (R-AL) dedicated $100 million in federal CARES Act funding for this new public-private partnership program to support low-income students. The mission? Quickly deliver no-cost broadband services to low-income K-12 students across the state. The challenge? Standing up, in a matter of weeks, an enormously ambitious—and absolutely critical—program with collaboration between the State and internet service providers.

[Kenneth W. Boswell is Director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs]

Without us even realizing it, the Internet’s most-used website has been getting worse. On too many queries, Google is more interested in making search lucrative than a better product for us. There’s one reason it gets away with this, according to a recent congressional investigation: Google is so darn big. An impending antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department is expected to make a similar point. How does Google’s alleged monopoly hurt you? Today, 88 percent of all searches happen on Google, in part because contracts make it the default on computers and phones. But whether Google is actually fetching you good information can be hard to see. First, Googling is easy and free, which blinds everyone a bit. Second, we don’t have a great alternative for broad Web searches — Microsoft’s rival Bing doesn’t have enough data to compete well. (This is the problem of monopolies in the information age.)

Superior Court Judge Shana Frost Matini ruled that Michael Pack overstepped his authority when he fired the board of an agency that helps dissidents and journalists in repressive countries and sought to replace it with his own slate of directors, including himself. Shortly after taking over the US Agency for Global Media, Pack began a sweeping overhaul of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other government-funded media operations, firing five of their directors; two others resigned in anticipation of his cuts. But the board of the Open Technology Fund, which Pack dismissed along with its director, rejected his order, arguing that he didn’t have the authority to replace them, and at one point, it blocked Pack’s chosen slate of directors and his new chief executive designee from taking over its offices in the District of Columbia. The District’s attorney general, which oversees nonprofits in the city, sued on the agency’s behalf. Judge Shana Frost Matini agreed that Pack was not authorized by the fund’s bylaws to replace its leadership and that the board Pack has been seeking to replace is the “valid” one at the agency.

We are gathering virtually at a pivotal moment in the evolution of communications technology. Across America and around the world, private companies are rolling out the next generation of wireless technology—commonly known as 5G. These networks will bring exponential increases in speed, responsiveness, and capacity—creating an incredible wireless experience for both consumers and enterprises. As we have pursued our own actions to address security threats, the United States has been working closely with our international partners. Put simply, international cooperation is critical if we are to protect our 5G infrastructure. Efforts to secure 5G networks do not stop at our borders. We are in this together.