Kentucky

Conexon Connect submitted compliance reports for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund locations in Mississippi, Florida, Missouri, Louisiana, Kentucky, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, and Illinois. Conexon Connect delayed its RDOF buildout in some states until state broadband offices finalized Broadband, Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) Program funding decisions. This delay, the company believes, was prudent because Conexon Connect’s network would require modification to account for any new BEAD-funded areas.

Given that many households across the country struggle to afford home internet service, local comparisons are critical for understanding the factors that influence internet pricing. Examining what drives local internet price differences is vital to understanding internet affordability nationwide and informing efforts to close the Digital Divide. This research revolves around two central questions: First, to what extent do internet prices vary across neighborhoods in the same city? Second, what neighborhood-level characteristics account for these price differences?

More than 36 Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program draft final proposals have been released by states and territories. In these plans, each state is deciding how to connect its un- and underserved locations before submitting its final proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for approval. Through these draft final proposals, we are seeing how states have adjusted their broadband deployment activities as a result of the BEAD Program restructuring and the Benefit of the Bargain application round.

The Kentucky Office of Broadband Development released the state's draft Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program Final Proposal on August 28. The state will accept public comments on the proposal through September 4, 2025. Comments can be submitted via this form. The plan includes $376,926,543 in funding to 21 internet service providers to cover 86,406 locations.

WISPA – The Association for Broadband Without Boundaries wrote to Acting National Telecommunications and Information Administration Administrator Adam Cassady to express concerns about the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Specifically, WISPA expressed concerns over reports of the Kentucky Office of Broadband Development requesting information from Unlicensed Fixed Wireless providers to determine if they provide sufficient coverage to remove locations from BEAD eligibility.

Tucker Farms—which grows corn, wheat, and soybeans to sell commercially—is one of roughly 2,800 locations in the rural region of Warren County (KY) to receive a broadband upgrade from Charter Communications' Spectrum network. Spectrum launched its network in the area in 2022 as part of its $7 billion multi-year rural construction initiative to connect 1.7 million homes and businesses, for which it received $1.2 billion from the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. But prior to Spectrum coming in, "we really didn't have a lot of options," said Jennifer Tucker.

Thousands of Kentucky residents could lose internet access in the coming weeks after KentuckyWired, the state’s open-access middle-mile broadband network, cancelled its contract with the network’s administrator. In mid-April, internet service providers in Kentucky began receiving a 30-day disconnection notice from KentuckyWired and the agency that oversees the network, the Kentucky Communications Network Authority.

Over Valentine's Day weekend 2025, parts of Appalachia, many still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene just 5 months earlier, were battered by another round of heavy rain and flooding.