Infrastructure

The Senate working group tasked with assessing the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund (USF) collected comments on what it should focus on when considering potential reforms for the program. The USF funding mechanism was developed at a time when home phone service was the predominant method of communication.

Highline completed the construction of “The Thumb” service area, now offering fiber broadband to over 8,000 households in Sanilac, Tuscola, Lapeer, and St. Clair (MI) counties. Highline’s 823-mile fiber optic network was built with a combination of private investment backed by ITC Capital Partners and the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) grant program. While representing 14% of Highline’s total RDOF location commitment, Highline was able to complete this geographic portion of the network in two years rather than by the end of 2027.

The Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) Project Office unveils the ARA, a new testbed in Central Iowa dedicated to research on rural wireless systems and applications. The ARA combines both commercial and programmable network systems. The multi-modal platform is based on the Iowa State University (ISU) campus with coverage extending to local crop and livestock farms and parts of the City of Ames (IA).

Twenty-five years ago, when I headed up the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), my colleagues and I identified what has come to be known as the digital divide while researching the growing gap between the haves and have-nots of internet access. Back then, we never dreamed that the US government would one day commit $42 billion dollars in the form of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to close the divide. Yet, the Biden administration and Congress have provided the focus and the funds we need to get every American online.

The Congressional directive in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure that there be specific, predictable, and sufficient Federal and State mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service. The dilemma is that the source of Universal Service Fund (USF) programs is end user (i.e. retail) revenues from international and interstate wireline and mobile services, as well as revenue from providers of interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.

A tour of the remaining United States Digital Divide from a home in Quincy (CA) to an unserved farm in Newton (NC) to a home in Troy (AL).  These locations (and more) are from a random sample of BEAD-eligible unserved and underserved locations that are not part of the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) or Alternative Connect America Model (A-CAM) programs. 

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society joined a coalition of 300 broadband experts, internet service providers (ISPs), community leaders, nonprofits, consumer advocates, and business groups to highlight concerns about the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Northeast broadband provider Archtop Fiber has completed its acquisition of GTel, which will allow Archtop to expand its network in more than five townships across New York’s Columbia County. GTel currently has more than 2,500 customers on a 300-mile fiber network.

Missouri-based Gateway Fiber is stretching its legs outside of the state to break ground on fresh fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) projects in Minnesota. In February 2023, Gateway Fiber was acquired by CBRE Investment Management in part to help finance FTTH build-outs as the team prepares for national expansion. John Meyer, Chief Marketing Officer at Gateway, said that the team found that the Minnesota specifically markets around Minneapolis, fit into its internal formula. Meyer said that the decision to enter Minnesota next was unrelated to the state’s federal grant monies.

North Carolina’s first Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program. It will connect 6,012 households and 164 businesses in 14 counties to high-speed internet.