Universal Broadband

With the introduction of a bill titled Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act in both the Senate and House of Representatives, some legislators believe high-speed Internet could make a difference for pregnant mothers. The bill would require information on maternal health to be included in the Federal Communications Commission’s 

The weekend of Feb 21, Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks visited Puerto Rico, where he convened a field hearing on communications resiliency and visited mountain areas to learn about the challenges of deploying resilient infrastructure in Puerto Rico’s rural areas.  

Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) led a bipartisan group of senators to urge the Trump administration to expand access to rural broadband by changing a requirement that prevents providers in rural communities across 19 states from even applying to the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ReConnect program, which funds rural broadband deployment. Since 2018, USDA has been authorized to make grants and loans of about $600 million per year to foster rural broadband through its ReConnect program.

In the United States, 17 million of the 21 million people who lack fixed-line broadband access live in rural areas. (That’s one-third of all rural Americans.) The issue is twice as bad on rural tribal lands, where two-thirds of people lack high-speed internet connectivity.

The US Department of Agriculture invested $9.1 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure that will create or improve e-Connectivity for 6,251 homes in rural Kershaw County. TruVista Communications Inc. will use a $9.1 million ReConnect grant to deploy 257 miles of fiber-optic cable in unserved areas of Kershaw County. This investment is expected to cover an 81-square-mile area that includes 6,251 rural households, 24 farms, 15 businesses, four critical community facilities, three educational facilities and a health care center.

The US Department of Agriculture invested $2.3 million in a high-speed broadband infrastructure project that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for 273 households, seven farms, seven businesses and a critical community facility in eastern Nevada. Beehive Telephone Company Inc. will use a $2.3 million ReConnect grant to construct a fixed wireless system and three Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) systems to connect 273 households, seven businesses, seven farms and a critical community facility in a 229-square-mile area of eastern Elko and White Pine counties.

The US Department of Agriculture invested $3.3 million in a high-speed broadband infrastructure project that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for 142 homes, businesses, farms and ranches in Beaverhead County. Southern Montana Telephone Company (SMT) will use a $3.3 million ReConnect Program grant to construct a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Beaverhead County. The 1,688-square-mile service area includes 109 households, 26 farms and ranches, seven businesses and the Grant Fire Station.

What gets left out of the conversation about 5G is that the service will likely be rolled out the same way as in technologies past — predominantly in wealthier areas.

As part of implementation of the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to support mobile and fixed service in high-cost areas of Alaska (Alaska Plan), the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau proposes and seeks comment on a population distribution methodology for estimating the number of Alaskans who receive mobile service within census blocks in remote areas. The Bureau proposes to use this methodology to determine whether mobile service providers participating in the Alaska Plan have met their performance commitments through deployment in eligible census blocks.

The Rural Utilities Service is issuing a final rule with request for comments to outline the general policies for servicing actions associated with financially distressed borrowers from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Loan Program, Rural Broadband Program, Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program, Broadband Initiatives Program, and Rural eConnectivity Pilot Program.