Internet/Broadband

There is a rising tide of support for Congress to provide permanent funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) — a program that currently ensures that over 19.5 million low-income families can purchase broadband service, which is critical for accessing job, education, and health information and is an absolute necessity to participate in today’s economy and society. The ACP is expected to exhaust its funding in t

The Chairs of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, and Congressional Hispanic Caucus wrote to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to urge quick action to replenish one of the Biden-Harris Administration’s signature initiatives – the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)—created in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Biden-Harris Administration has consistently led on internet access and affordability issues and has done more to close the digital divide than its predecessors.

When it comes to connecting residents to broadband, counties need to speak up with detailed information about their unserved and underserved areas and work closely with their state broadband directors to get their fair share of federal dollars. “Get involved — go to your state broadband director – get to know them,” said Luis Acuña, Southwest regional director for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). “They can weave your needs into their plan.

We write to express our strong support for the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and to urge Congress to allocate additional funding to this crucial initiative. By investing in the FCC’s ACP, we can address the existing digital disparities faced by people with disabilities and promote a more inclusive and equitable society.

Open access network operator Underline is launching what Founder and CEO Bob Thompson calls the “most generous” Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) offering in the US. Multiple broadband providers have what Thompson calls “net zero” ACP offerings that have a price tag of $30, enabling qualifying households to get free service when the ACP benefit is applied.

As states draft their initial proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is striving to help broadband offices tackle the cybersecurity aspect of the BEAD guidelines. Essentially, states must verify the vendors and suppliers to whom they award contracts have “adequate” cybersecurity and supply chain risk management (C/SCRM) plans.

E-Rate is the forgotten child of the universal service family. While commentators and Congress have spilled significant ink examining the government’s broadband build-out and affordability initiatives, E-Rate has been quietly subsidizing broadband service to schools and libraries for a quarter century. Promoting community connectivity and education is a worthwhile policy goal.

Five providers that offer service in eastern North Dakota broke ground simultaneously on fiber projects funded, in part, through state and federal broadband programs.

Millions of Americans could be affected by thousands of miles of toxic telephone cables. These old cables, legacies from the pre-internet, dial-up telephone era, are sheathed in lead, an element found to be toxic in humans.

WTA—Advocates for Rural Broadband filed a letter in opposition to a proposal by the Coalition of RDOF Winners which seeks substantial post-auction supplemental additions to the support amounts, as well as significant changes to the distribution schedules and other terms and conditions, for which the Coalition’s members made winning low bids and agreed to accept during the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) reverse auction.