Rhode Island

Rhode Island lawmakers are looking to overhaul a 2009 broadband law they say limits the state's ability to hold internet providers accountable for pricing, outages, and service quality. The Rhode Island Broadband Oversight and Accountability Act would revise the state's Broadband Deployment and Investment Act and allow officials to collect broadband performance and availability data independently. “I was shocked to learn how extensively this 16-year-old Rhode Island law restricts Rhode Island

T-Mobile has entered into definitive agreements to form two strategic fiber joint ventures (JVs): a 50/50 partnership with Oak Hill Capital to acquire and combine GoNetspeed and Greenlight Networks, and a separate 50/50 joint venture with Wren House to acquire i3 Broadband.

Today's big news is that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved 18 Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program Final Proposals. As a reminder, we've been tracking what those proposals looked like when they were submitted to the NTIA. In the coming days, we'll be examining the final final (Is that what we should call them?) BEAD plans to see what changes were made during the approval process.

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.

In partnership with the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, GoNetspeed, the Northeast’s largest independent fiber optic network builder, celebrated its planned expansion into Newport (RI). Marking GoNetspeed’s first Rhode Island community, Newport also signifies a significant milestone for the company, as Rhode Island is the tenth state in GoNetspeed’s growing footprint. The combined $13 million investment was made possible through a $9 million award from Rhode Island Commerce Corporation’s Capital Projects Fund (CPF) with a $3.9 million match from GoNetspeed.

White House National Cyber Director Harry Coker, Jr.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award an application from Rhode Island, allowing the state to request access to more than $4.5 million to implement its Digital Equity Plan. This funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Rhode Island will use the $4,540,059 in funding to implement key digital equity initiatives, including: