Internet/Broadband

Winning funding in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband program will be “trickier than we were hoping for,” said Charter CEO Chris Winfrey. “We didn’t get all the guidelines and [National Telecommunications and Information Administration] instructions that we were hoping for,” Winfrey said. Instead, some of the guidelines that have been established are “unhelpful to private capital.” Although Winfrey didn’t elaborate, this may have been a reference to rules that favor public/private partnerships. 

The clock is ticking for state broadband offices to submit their initial proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) describing how each state will carry out its competitive Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) grant process. The vast majority of states are still drafting their proposals and seeking stakeholder input, but that input works both ways.

Comcast is getting ready to activate Philadelphia (PA) as a trial market for cellular offload (i.e. using complementary network technologies for delivering data originally targeted for cellular networks).

The Federal Communications Commission released the funding structure for its Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (A-CAM) program. With the new offer, existing A-CAM program carriers and carriers that are still receiving legacy support will be funded for the deployment of voice and broadband-capable networks in their operating regions. NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association's Executive Vice President, Mike Romano, said that as a result of the FCC’s new offers, NTCA members have more options to deliver on a mission of universal connectivity. Meanwhile, NCTA – The Internet & Televis

One out of four urban households do not have a wireline subscription or the infrastructure to support one, making the challenge of closing the digital divide no small matter. Achieving digital equity is going to take time, and efforts will be ongoing as technology evolves and household circumstances change. “Digital skills are one issue that will never go away,” said Angela Siefer, Executive Director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA).

Key findings on mobile coverage and fixed broadband availability across the UK as of April and May 2023: 

Some Louisiana communities have never had high-speed, affordable internet access, but thanks to REV Business and the GUMBO grant program, these areas are finally getting connected. REV was established in 2020 as a combination of former telecommunications companies RTC, EATEL, and Vision Communications. With 2,790 miles of fiber and more than 60,000 customers, REV serves multiple parishes in south Louisiana including parts of Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. James, St. John the Baptist, Ascension, Livingston, and East Baton Rouge.

In September 2021, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded the Missouri Association of Councils of Government (MACOG) a 

According to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, Black and Hispanic adults in the United States remain less likely than White adults to say they own a traditional computer or have high-speed internet at home. Eighty percent of White adults report owning a desktop or laptop computer, compared with 69 percent of Black adults and 67 percent of Hispanic adults. Eighty percent of White adults also report having a broadband connection at home, while smaller shares of Black and Hispanic adults say the same—71 percent and 65 percent, respectively.

In early 2020, as the coronavirus spread, schools around the world abruptly halted in-person education. To many governments and parents, moving classes online seemed the obvious stopgap solution. In the United States, school districts scrambled to secure digital devices for students. Almost overnight, videoconferencing software like Zoom became the main platform teachers used to deliver real-time instruction to students at home.