Infrastructure

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is currently seeing big success because it is filling several market niches. In rural areas, the product delivers speeds from 50 Mbps to 200 Mbps depending on how far a customer lives from a tower. In markets where the alternatives are slower technologies like satellite, DSL, or wireless internet service provider (WISP) broadband, customers are happy to have relatively fast broadband for the first time. FWA is also the product for the price-conscious consumer, priced between $50 and $65 when most other broadband technologies cost more.

The Federal Communications Commission released a Report and Order creating the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model program which extends subsidies for rural broadband providers for 10 additional years (beyond the remaining 5 years) at a cost of $1.27 to $1.33 billion annually to the FCC’s Universal Service Fund. In exchange, any ISP that elects this subsidy would be required to deploy 100/20 broadband to everyone in its service area.

CommScope, a global telecommunications leader, plans to add 250 new jobs with a $60.3 million investment to expand its fiber-optic cable manufacturing operations in Catawba County, North Carolina, Governor Roy Cooper (D-NC) announced. CommScope develops, manufactures, installs, and supports network and hardware infrastructure for a digital society, such as the high-speed internet that connects people and places around the world. This project will upgrade the Catawba County facilities to increase the company’s capacity to produce fiber optic cable.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced how much Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding each of the 50 states would be allocated. The answer varies from state to state, but one thing they all have in common is that Volume 1 and Volume 2 of their initial proposals are due December 27, 2023. Once NTIA approves the proposal, the state will get 20 percent of its BEAD funding. Volume 1 must include: Existing broadband funding, Unserved and underserved locations, Community anchor institutions, Challenge process plans.

Oregon faces a range of challenges on the route to making broadband available throughout the state, said Nick Batz, director of the Oregon Broadband Office (OBO). “Our biggest challenge is the size of the state,” he said. “We’re roughly the size of the United Kingdom but have six percent of the population.

BroadbandOhio, a division of the Ohio Department of Development, released for public comment Volume I of the state's Initial Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

The city of Bountiful, Utah, with a population of around 45,000, plans to begin construction of a new municipal broadband network in August 2023. Bountiful has partnered with Utopia Fiber to install and operate the open-access network. The city-owned fiber network will provide gigabit speeds to residents and businesses who elect to participate.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) program as a voluntary path for supporting the widespread deployment of 100/20 Mbps broadband service throughout the rural areas served by carriers currently receiving A-CAM support and in areas served by legacy rate-of-return support recipients. In adopting this program, the FCC promotes the universal availability of voice and broadband networks, while also taking measures to minimize the burden on the nation’s ratepayers.

With the enactment of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), we finally have the resources and direction to enable us to achieve universal connectivity. Yet, success is not assured. We now need to turn our attention to execution, making sure we invest these enormous resources in infrastructure that will connect communities for decades to come.

Declaration Networks deploys fixed wireless access (FWA) to unserved and underserved areas. But as CEO Bob Nichols said, “Most of our networks moving forward will be fiber-to-the-home.” Declaration Networks was one of the first companies to deploy FWA using TV white spaces (TVWS) spectrum and as a participant in Microsoft’s Airband rural broadband deployment program.