Internet/Broadband

The Common Ground Alliance (CGA) recently issued its 2021 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT). The goal of the CGA is to highlight and reduce damages done to all utilities when working underground. Here are the current trends discussed in the DIRT report:

Millions of dollars in federal funding are currently making their way to northern Michigan to aid in the buildout of fiber-optic broadband internet infrastructure throughout the region. As a historic moment, these fiber internet investments mirror what the government did with electricity back in the 1930s.

Without a record to point to yet, addresses from new governors tend to be light on details as they grapple with forming their cabinets, articulating policy priorities, confronting economic realities, and delving into budget details.

There needs to be a way to consistently track the billions in broadband infrastructure money coming from the federal government, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation panelists. With $42.5 billion coming to the states from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, experts floated the idea of having mandated ongoing reporting requirements on what that money is doing. Brookings Institution senior fellow Nicol Turner-Lee said her research group is discussing their own version of a tracking me

An earlier model estimated how far the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding might go, using estimates of the unserved and underserved from the old Form 477 data. The prediction was that with an optimal allocation between states, there would be almost enough money to reach all the unserved and underserved. Well, we’re getting closer to real and final data, and an update is in: $41.4 billion at an average national cost of $6,214 per location should reach 6.7 million locations.

After broad outreach, and input that included more than 150 comments from a diverse array of stakeholders, NTIA identified two key policy issues hindering a more competitive app ecosystem: 1) Consumers largely can’t get apps outside of the app store model, controlled by Apple and Google. This means innovators have very limited avenues for reaching consumers. 2) Apple and Google create hurdles for developers to compete for consumers by imposing technical limits, such as restricting how apps can function or requiring developers to go through slow and opaque review processes.

The United States and our allies are in a high-stakes technology competition with authoritarian adversaries. How this competition plays out will profoundly shape our economic security – our ability to innovate, grow exports, create jobs of the future, and provide opportunities to all our people. It will also shape our national security – our ability to protect our advantages while preserving our freedoms and democratic values at home and abroad.

The United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service seeks comment on its update of Rural eConnectivity Program (ReConnect Program) regulation to ensure that requirements are clear, accurate as presented, and in compliance with Federal reporting requirements. The changes to ReConnect rules include:

People in need don’t want a handout; they want a hand-up that will enable them to improve their circumstances and lead more productive, successful lives. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is giving workers, students, and families the hand-up they need to compete in the connected 21st-century digital economy.

Charter Communications is upgrading its widespread hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks to support faster speeds. But the demand for lofty upstream speeds is not being driven by actual customer usage, according to CFO Chris Winfrey. "The upstream demand today is much more of a marketing campaign as opposed to any real product demand," said Winfrey. Upstream usage soared during the early stages of the pandemic as people worked and schooled from home, but downstream usage still exceeds upstream usage by a wide margin.