Internet/Broadband

Google Fiber is pleased to submit the recommendations below for broadband leaders to consider as they structure their BEAD Five-Year Action Plans and Initial and Final Proposals. Over the past decade, GFiber has launched gigabit-speed internet service in nearly 20 major metropolitan areas, setting a new standard for internet speeds, climbing to the top of industry rankings in customer satisfaction, injecting meaningful competition into a fossilized industry, and driving other providers to upgrade the speeds and service they offer their customers.

Net neutrality regulations have been dead for years, and they should stay that way. Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission has moved to reopen and re-litigate the issue. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has initiated a new rule-making that would enact what are largely the same net neutrality rules tried back in 2016. The law has changed and markets have changed, and yet the arguments for and against net neutrality have largely remained the same.

When Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel unveiled plans to restore net neutrality, she said reinstating the rule would “give the FCC and its national security partners the tools needed to defend our networks from potential security threats.” The rule—which gives the agency broad powers to regulate internet service as a utility, akin to water or electricity—hasn’t historically been invoked fo

Traffic referrals to the top global news sites from Meta's Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) has collapsed over the past year, according to data from Similarweb. Website business models that depended on clicks from social media are now broken, as regulatory 

Director of the Illinois Office of Broadband, Matt Schmit, has been working for over 20 years in economic development, and began his public interest career as a grad student at University of Minnesota. There, he spent his spare time doing consulting work with local communities to take stock of their connectivity needs and make use of federal broadband funding programs.

When Executive Director for ConnectLA—Louisiana's broadband office—Veneeth Iyengar was asked if he was concerned that there might be areas of Louisiana that no broadband provider would want to serve, his response was, "We’re not concerned [because] it’s all in how you design the program.

Last month, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society staff, fellows, former fellows, and friends attended the 51st Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) in Washington (DC). Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn delivered the keynote, Executive Director Adrianne Furniss awarded the

The labor agreement that writers struck with studios and streaming platforms will likely accelerate the end to “peak TV," a decade that included an explosion of programming for viewers and job opportunities for talent in Hollywood. Streamers will have to find a way to pay increased talent costs—from the writers’ settlement, along with an earlier deal with directors and whatever is finalized with actors—without adding to their overall production costs. That will likely mean that companies will make fewer new shows and cancel even more that are on the bubble.

The City of Syracuse (NY), Community Broadband Network (CBN), and US Ignite launched the Surge Link, a high-speed Internet connectivity program. Surge Link aims to connect 2,500 underserved Syracuse families to high-speed, affordable broadband. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) subsidies make the no-cost service possible. US Ignite advised the City on the overall technology, deployment models, and funding strategy for Surge Link.

In the past five years, FOCUS Broadband has gone from deploying fiber connectivity to just two North Carolina counties to eight, nearly doubling its number of customers from 36,000 to 63,000.