Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

Consolidated Communications will provide access to high-speed Internet for thousands of people in New Hampshire as soon as 2024 after the New Hampshire Executive Council approved giving it $40 million in federal funding. The panel unanimously authorized using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money for a three-year contract to make fiber-optic broadband available to nearly 25,000 homes, including almost 3,100 in Cheshire County. Consolidated has also pledged to add another 32,000 homes in the project area using its own money, but it didn’t have a county-by-county breakdown for these additiona

The Universal Service Fund is funded  by a quarterly surcharge on interstate and international telecommunications revenue. Each quarter, a private nonprofit known as the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) estimates how much money it needs to fund the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) myriad universal service initiatives. It also estimates the amount of telecommunications revenue expected to be generated by industry, and from there calculates the surcharge percentage necessary to cover program costs.

With Affordable Connectivity Program enrollment picking up, we’ll need to address the longevity of the program’s funding before too long. We’re much better off addressing the issue quickly and with certainty—and there are three basic reasons why that is so. First, we must keep the millions of Americans who have signed up for the program secure in their access to broadband. Second, there are millions more who are eligible, and we need to get them signed up.

The US Department of the Treasury announced the approval of broadband projects in South Carolina under the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The state estimates it will use its funding to connect over 31,000 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet—representing 23% of locations still lacking high-speed internet access..

I fully expect high-quality wireless internet service providers (WISPs) to be able to compete against fiber networks. While the industry lately seems to be fixated on broadband speeds, there are customers that value other aspects an internet service provider (ISP), such as trust and reliability. I think WISPs (and every other ISP) will have a hard time competing against a cooperative that builds fiber, particularly one that sets low prices like $50 or $60 for a gigabit.

President Joe Biden’s administration has set an ambitious goal to deliver Internet for All using $42.5 billion in funding from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. It’s not entirely clear how realistic that goal is.

The Texas Comptroller's Office intent to solicit an initial round of grant applications totaling $120 million for broadband infrastructure projects as part of the Bringing Online Opportunities to Texas (BOOT) program. The BOOT program will support broadband infrastructure projects in eligible areas that bring reliable, affordable internet service to communities in need.

In a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) expressed concerns about the Federal Communications Commission's new National Broadband Map and urged the NTIA to provide states with flexibility in determining locations and areas eligible for funding in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

The Federal Communications Commission granted licenses to seven of the smaller winning bidders in the 2.5 GHz auction, which was completed in August 2023.

An oft-invoked pun in broadband policy circles is the exhortation to support a fiber-rich diet. But data indicate that actual dietary benefits may arise out of strong broadband connections. Several inquiries have explored the role of internet connectivity in resolving the adverse impacts of “food deserts,” namely, areas in which there is low availability of healthy foods. The underlying theory is that internet connectivity may enable users to identify retail sources of healthful foods more easily or to even order those foods online.