Internet/Broadband

It’s concerning when one of the nation’s largest internet and voice service providers files for bankruptcy. Windstream provides critical 9-1-1 service and I will be monitoring the situation closely to ensure that there are no disruptions. Windstream also provides broadband service to over 1 million customers across the US and it is essential that their interests are represented and protected as the company reorganizes.

Internet inclusion is not guaranteed. Because of the Internet’s power and reach in our lives, uneven access can compound existing social and economic inequalities. The latest edition of the Inclusive Internet Index reveals that progress on closing the digital divide between low-income countries and the rest of the world has stalled, reflecting slow growth in internet connections and 4G network coverage in the past year.

The report calls for a tax on targeted online advertising to respond to the crisis in journalism and fund diverse, local, independent and non-commercial news and information. The report proposes a series of proposals to levy a small tax on ads sold by highly profitable companies like Facebook and Google.

The Federal Communications Commission offered an additional $67 million in annual support to certain rural broadband providers that could bring improved service to nearly 110,000 homes and businesses in rural communities across 43 states. Carriers that accept the offer must expand the availability of broadband service delivering at least 25 Mbps downloads/3 Mbps uploads to their rural customers. Carriers have 30 days to decide whether to accept the additional funding.

China is planning to deploy fiber-optic connections to 80 percent of the homes in the country. What’s new about China's massive deployment of fiber, both in its own territory and in its global market along its planned Belt and Road, is that China is likely to permit only 5G equipment made by Huawei and a handful of other Chinese companies to connect to that fiber. China, not America, will be the place where new online services are born. Although the US came up with the idea of the internet, we don't have a sandbox to play in, a giant market in which to test new high-capacity services.

I want to provide an update on the significant progress we’ve made in the US to update our infrastructure rules. And I want to share some of the results we’re already seeing, including Internet speeds that are up 40% and 5G networks that are being built in the US at an accelerated clip.

The Pew Charitable Trusts has launched its new Broadband Research Initiative to understand why some 24 million Americans — most of those living in rural communities — still lack what is largely now considered a basic utility. “About 30 percent of rural Americans do not have access to broadband, compared to about 2 percent of urban Americans,” said Kathryn de Wit, manager of Pew’s Broadband Research Initiative. “So while there is that big gap, I don’t think that this is a policy issue that’s split very neatly along urban and rural lines,” she continued.

Indiana is launching a $100 million program to expand broadband internet services across rural parts of the state. Gov Eric Holcomb (R-IN) says the Next Level Broadband program will bridge the digital divide, giving more rural Hoosiers access to the internet for business or personal uses. The governor says the “internet is just as essential to Indiana’s prosperity today as highways were a century ago.” Broadband providers can initially apply for up to $5 million to expand service to unserved areas if they provide at least a 20 percent match.

At Mobile World Congress, Facebook shared a number of updates from its connectivity team, including a partnership through which it's bringing 5G wireless internet to Alameda (CA). US-based company Common Networks is delivering ultra high-speed gigabit internet service to residential customers using Facebook's technology, as a replacement for standard home broadband.