Infrastructure

The state of Idaho has awarded nearly $119 million in funding to Ziply, Comcast and 14 others. Ziply won two awards totaling over $14.3 million. Comcast won a single award for over $9.8 million. Other awardees included competitive and incumbent local providers. In addition, some awards went to individual counties. Awardees will contribute matching funds equal to 30 percent of project costs on average. The funding will go toward last mile and middle mile projects. The funding for the program came through the federal Capital Projects Fund.

Glo Fiber, powered by Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel), reached a partnership with municipal officials to deploy next-generation fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband services to the City of Lancaster (PA). Glo Fiber will utilize portions of the city’s extensive existing fiber network and provide key fiber assets to the City for Smart City uses. Engineering work is currently underway, and construction is slated to begin in mid-2024 and last approximately 18 months.

 Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar (R-TX) applauded the federal government’s decision to provide a waiver for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program that will give potential applicants broader financing options. “I am pleased [the National Telecommunications and Information Administration] has agreed to allow alternative ways for providers to comply with this requirement of the [Notice of Funding Opportunity],” Comptroller Hegar said.

Cox Communications is being pressed to change or alter its "powered by fiber" ad claims to "clearly and conspicuously disclose" that its cable broadband service is not offered with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technologies. The National Advertising Division (NAD) made the recommendation following a challenge raised by AT&T, a Cox competitor that is expanding and upgrading a portion of its footprint to fiber. In its assessment, the NAD noted that Cox's cable broadband service delivers service over fiber to the node, where it's then transitioned to coaxial line

T-Mobile expanded its fiber ambitions to a handful of new markets via partnerships with several open access fiber network operators including Tillman FiberCo and SiFi Networks, among others. The developments reflect T-Mobile's growing interest in partnering with fiber network operators to offer T-Mobile-branded fiber services running over another company's network. It is a model that T-Mobile knows well as companies like Dish Network, Altice and Google Fiber pursue a similar strategy using T-Mobile's own wireless network.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the 2023 Technology Use (Farm Computer Usage and Ownership) report. According to USDA, 85 percent of farms reported having access to the internet nationally. In 2023, 32 percent of farms used the internet to purchase agricultural inputs, which was an increase of 3 percent from 2021. Additionally, 23 percent of farms used the internet to market agricultural activities, which was an increase of 2 percent from 2021. Farms which conducted business with non-agricultural websites in 2023 increased by 2 percent to 49 percent.

What once was a luxury is now a necessity for many in today's world, and a lot of East Texans are left out when it comes to having reliable internet access. It powers businesses, connects people around the world and creates avenues for education and health care. However, broadband internet is not equal. Proposition 8 on Texas' November 7 ballot aims at funding a better future for internet access. This proposition is the constitutional amendment creating the broadband infrastructure fund to expand high-speed broadband access and assist in the financing of connectivity projects.

The Biden-Harris Administration is taking actions to improve the health of rural communities and help rural health care providers stay open. These actions:

Altice USA reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023. Broadband net losses were -31k in Q3 2023, compared to -43k in Q3 2022, representing a 13k improvement in broadband net add performance trends. Fiber (FTTH) customer net additions were +45k in Q3 2023, the company's best quarter for fiber net adds. Fiber broadband net adds were driven by both higher fiber gross additions and increased migrations of existing customers.

There is still one more chance for local communities or broadband service providers to fix the maps that will be used to allocate Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program grant funding. Under the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) rules for the BEAD grant process, every State Broadband Office (SBO) must conduct one more challenge process to the broadband maps.