Hexvarium is hoping to make it easier for service providers to understand the long-term costs and revenue associated with prospective broadband builds using a new software mapping tool. CEO Gerry Lawlor said that the tool will provide detailed data insights that have hitherto been lacking in the industry, and, ultimately help close the broadband gap. The company’s HexMAPP software breaks the entire US down into hexagonal blocks. These are color-coded based on build desirability, which is calculated by combining a range of inputs gleaned from the US Census, Federal Communications Commission, and proprietary data. By clicking on a block, service providers can get a detailed view of not only the mix of people and businesses in an area but also income levels, what types of products and price points a location might require, forecast demand over time, and the competitive landscape. Hexvarium has also already mocked up a network design to push fiber to every home in the country. That means it can cross reference this design – which includes information about the expected mix of aerial versus buried construction, the total number of route miles needed, take rates, etc. – with the aforementioned data to yield a detailed cost/benefit analysis for each hex block. The company’s software is also built to reflect the relationship between blocks. Hexvarium believes the ability to provide better data about the 40 to 50 million homes in the US that are riskier to cover will help convince service providers to take the leap into less desirable areas and ultimately close the broadband gap.

The Federal Communications Commission is committing nearly $78 million in funding rounds through the Emergency Connectivity Program (ECP), which provides digital services for students in communities across the country. The funding commitments support applications from the first and third application windows, benefiting approximately 175,000 students across the country, including students in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Texas. To date, the FCC has committed nearly $6.1 billion to schools and libraries across the country as part of the Emergency Connectivity Program.

Local broadband advocates and politicians tell me that folks with little or no broadband are hounding them about when they are going to see a broadband solution. A large part of the frustration is that folks have heard that broadband is coming to rural America, but they aren’t seeing any local progress or improvement. A big part of the reason for this frustration is that folks aren’t being given realistic timeframes for when they might see a solution. Politicians all gladly told the public that they had voted to solve rural broadband when the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) legislation was enacted in November 2021. But almost nobody told folks the actual timelines that go along with the broadband funding. Such grant timelines see broadband installations and improvements between 2024 and 2028. However, broadband providers can build earlier than that. Broadband providers realize that the longer they delay construction, the higher the likely cost of the construction. But some grants have built-in delays, such as having to complete an environmental study before any grant funds will be released. The big problem is that people without good broadband want a solution now, not years from now. Ultimately, folks are further frustrated when they hear that local governments are creating partnerships or giving grants to broadband providers from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding – but again, with no immediate action or disclosures of the timeline. 

As the battle over the use of the 12.2 GHz to 12.7 GHz rages, the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition once again said that the Federal Communication Commission should change its rules and allow terrestrial 5G transmission in this frequency band. Current rules allow for downlink only use for satellite TV. The push for 12 GHz began in October 2020 with a letter to then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Since that time, incumbents AT&T and SpaceX have opposed the shared spectrum use on grounds that terrestrial 5G would interfere with their services, disrupting transmissions to customers. Another incumbent, DISH, is part of the coalition because it’s building a 5G network and already has licenses in the band for its satellite TV services. Keep in mind that a rule change is still needed for SpaceX to use the 12 GHz band for its 12,000 Starlink for internet access. Current rules allow for downlink transmission only, so Starlink uses frequencies outside 12.2 GHz to 12.7 GHz for its internet services. The coalition argues that Starlink has 1500 MHz of spectrum available for its use that’s outside of the 500 MHz in question and 5G services should have permission to use it.