Fierce

The US Broadband Summit brought together top leaders from across the country to talk about state efforts related to the Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) program. Three major topics emerged from the summit — both at public sessions as well as the buzz in the hallways.

As the Federal Communications Commission gets ready to vote on pole attachment reforms, industry groups and internet service providers submitted a fresh round of comments weighing in on what changes need to be made. The FCC has had an open proceeding on pole attachments since 2017, but it has yet to adopt new rules.

As fiber deployments grow, Comcast President Mike Cavanaugh thinks the company is well-positioned to handle the competition. “We’re very focused on the key competitor over the long term being fiber,” Cavanaugh said “The good news is we’ve competed against fiber for 20 years, we know how to compete against [it].” What’s driving the current competitive landscape, Cavanaugh went on to say, is “low move activity” and “the entry of fixed wireless.” He noted it’s difficult to say “which one is more significant.” Cavanaugh predicts fixed wireless access (FWA) will “run for a while,” but said Comca

Connect2First has constructed 4,371 miles of fiber network across 18 Arkansas counties, and the internet service provider still has over 600 miles to go. Sales and Marketing Director Candace Looper said the company is seeing take rates between 40 and 60 percent in areas where service is already available. Connect2First is a wholly owned subsidiary of First Electric cooperative that provides fiber-to-the-home internet and home phone service to the coop’s members.

Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY) hinted that she will introduce new legislation before the end of 2023 to address a significant funding gap for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The ACP, which offers free or discounted high-speed internet to qualifying households, is expected to run out of money in April of 2024.

Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative (MEC) is using Ciena tech to build middle mile backbone scalable from 100 Gigabit to 400 Gigabit. MEC serves 31,000 member accounts across nine Virginia counties and five North Carolina counties. It delivers broadband in its service territory through its subsidiary EMPOWER Broadband. Specifically, the co-op is leveraging Ciena’s 8114 Coherent Aggregation Router and 5160 Service Aggregation Switch for the middle mile network.

Kansas awarded a $5 million grant to nonprofit Connected Nation to construct a carrier-neutral internet exchange point (IXP) adjacent to Wichita State University’s Innovation Campus. Construction will be done through Connected Nation IXP, a joint venture between Connected Nation and Newby Ventures. The Wichita IXP will be the first carrier-neutral IXP in Kansas. One network that will connect to the Wichita IXP is the middle-mile network planned for the state that was funded, in part, through a June 2023, $42.5 million grant awarded to the Kansas Departments of Commerce and Transportation.