Internet/Broadband

About one-third of smart city projects fail and around 80 percent of prototypes don’t scale and reach their desired scope.(1) Poorly implemented smart city investments undercut civic trust and can have far-reaching economic and social consequences. US Ignite’s Fostering Civic Trust guide purports an ecosystem of trust that places people at the core of the smart city movement by focusing on five policy domains: (i) Data Governance; (ii) Cybersecurit

Brightspeed is looking to blanket more than three million locations with fiber over the coming years once parent Apollo’s acquisition of assets in 20 states from Lumen Technologies closes. But the company is not planning to use your father’s network architecture. The company has enlisted the help of several major vendors, including fiber supplier Corning, cloud platform provider Calix, and construction company Dycom.

Infrastructure company 3Red8 has a plan to build a new open access dark fiber network by 2027 that, like the interstate highway system, will crisscross the U.S. and allow a free flow of traffic from coast to coast and border to border.

Several core recommendations emerge from this history of broadband policymaking:

When we’ll be able to file for grants from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program? The short answer to the question is that we can’t know yet. But we know all of the steps that must be taken by a state before it can start offering grants. We have a date for the first step of the process. On May 15, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will release a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the BEAD program. This document will flesh out the NTIAs understanding of how the grant process will work.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on the petition filed by Competitive Carriers Association seeking a temporary waiver of the FCC’s rules that would provide an additional 60 days from April 15, 2022 for providers to apply the Affordable Connectivity Program benefit to all plans. While CCA’s member companies who participate in the ACP have worked diligently to be ready for the April 15 deadline, the deadline has not provided enough time for all members to make the n

The St Louis (MO) Community Foundation released a report on the digital divide in St Louis and the steps necessary to bridge the gap. This report provides a detailed and actionable assessment of the digital landscape in St Louis City and County. The digital divide impacts broad swaths of the St Louis population, and is most acutely felt by low-income and minority communities. This assessment positions St Louis to understand the breadth and depth of the digital divide, and establishes the necessary framework to catapult the city as a national leader in digital equity.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) adopts the first middle-mile broadband rule for the state of Texas. The rule permits electric utilities to lease their excess fiber capacity to internet service providers to provide broadband in unserved and underserved areas of Texas. While the PUCT does not regulate broadband service, this rule will help electric utilities, which the PUCT does regulate, partner with internet service providers to expand broadband access to Texans.

In courtrooms across the US, judges hear from lawyers, prosecutors, plaintiffs, law enforcement officers, witnesses and others, all with the mission to resolve criminal and civil disputes fairly and transparently. Most observers agree, however, that the volume and complexity of cases before the courts in recent years have slowed the proverbial wheels of justice to a crawl. Then suddenly, the courts came to grips with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and scrambled to defer in-person hearings. Many feared cases might grind to a standstill. Instead, something remarkable happened.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is continuing to build out its senior leadership team as it prepares to launch the grant programs in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: