The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau extends two deadlines for Round 2 of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program (COVID-19. First, in response to recent requests from awardees, we extend the deadline for funding recipients to purchase eligible devices and implement eligible services from July 31, 2022, to October 31, 2022. The FCC also necessarily extends the deadline for submitting invoices for reimbursement by three months. Participants requesting more time have cited a variety of reasons, including supply-chain delays and discontinuities, staff absences due to COVID, and challenges with state government purchasing regulations. 

While the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's notice of funding opportunity prioritizes fiber builds for those applying for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants, a "high-cost threshold" exception has been a point of concern for fiber advocates like the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) CEO Gary Bolton. That threshold is a cost, to be set by the states, at which they may choose not to prioritize end-to-end fiber deployment. FBA is trying to make sure the states and territories writing up their funding plans keep that threshold as high as possible. The organization recommends:

1. Use state and federal data to estimate the number of unserved and underserved locations
2. Model deployment costs and compare them to the state's estimated BEAD allotment to see if there are enough funds for full fiber
3. Meet with local providers to see how fiber can be expanded through other means (e.g., existing infrastructure, in-kind matches, etc.)
4. Explore supplemental grants
5. Calculate costs over time
6. Use all of the above to "determine the highest point at which the Extremely High Cost Per Location Threshold can be set while still ensuring all unserved areas will be served"

The irony — and frustration — of Cleveland’s status as one of the least-connected cities in the country is that we are home to a number of the early digital inclusion leaders that helped to put the issue on the national stage. So, why haven’t we made more progress towards digital equity? The answer is leadership, and the opportunity to reverse this trend is now. As Mayor Justin Bibb establishes his administration’s priorities and staff, he has the opportunity to shape a digitally equitable future for Cleveland citizens, and to ensure we use our resources to become a success story and not a cautionary tale. Here are three things that Cleveland’s new leadership team can prioritize right now to help everyone in our city be part of the connected world:

1. Make digital equity someone’s job
2. Create the immediate and long-term workforce that will connect everyone
3. Plan now for sustainable funding

[Cleveland native Samantha Schartman-Cycyk is president of the Marconi Society, a nonprofit dedicated to digital equity]

As more fiber rollouts are announced across the U.S., the broadband industry is facing a looming problem: finding enough workers to actually deploy the tens of millions of new passings they’ve promised. Government statistics show the number of telecommunications workers has dropped drastically over the past decade and that figure isn’t expected to rebound anytime soon. But plug-and-play fiber installation technology could help alleviate the workforce crunch – at least to an extent. As the name suggests, the installer simply plugs the cable in at either end, dramatically reducing the time and skills required. Indeed, many US municipalities have used their in-house electricians to carry out last drop plug and play installs.Essentially, plug and play (or pre-terminated) fiber cables remove the need for fusion splicing or other specialist techniques, such as using mechanical/ field fit connectors.