The state has devoted $350 million to a rural broadband initiative over the past four years but seen little progress due to fights between telecoms and utilities over access to poles.
The state ranks 46th in the nation when it comes to Internet access and 7 in 10 residents do not have access to affordable connectivity, which is defined as below $60 per month.
Maine’s ambitious broadband expansion is creating demand for more workers to hang fiber. Women are increasingly responding to the opportunity.
The city council paused the $20 million contract with local nonprofit DigitalC with concerns that the $40 million broadband expansion initiative would be too large for the company to manage.
It’s especially hard to get low-income Americans living in multifamily buildings across the digital divide. But states and nonprofits are finding ways to do it.
Voter turnout is lower in rural places, something researchers say is a symptom of unequal amounts of civic infrastructure.
The results of a first-ever statewide broadband survey found that 37.2 percent of residents were unaware of the advertised speeds they are paying for and 23.7 percent reported speed dissatisfaction.
New federal funding presents opportunities to help families in affordable housing gain high-speed internet and all the benefits that come with it.
Despite the Federal Communications Commission’s map of available consumer broadband at 100 percent across the state, the state’s broadband office argues that rural areas are still left out, challenging 2 million addresses.
The attention highlight the millions of dollars going toward connecting every resident and business, as well as the benefits of broadband for education, the workforce and economic development.
The grant funding will be available through two programs that will support the state’s Broadband and 5G Sector Partnership, which aims to educate and train a skilled workforce for Ohio’s telecommunications industry.
Counties across the state have been challenging the accuracy of the federal Internet expansion map ahead of a Friday deadline. Westmoreland County alone identified 14,527 sites that don’t appear at all on the address maps.
Two Democratic U.S. Senators from Nevada want the state’s broadband office and other entities to verify and submit more accurate data, to better represent the state’s broadband connectivity.
It’s not just about the dollars but about spending the money effectively. The focus should be on reducing costs for the private companies that provide most of the investment, rather than propping up sickly projects.
It’s an updated version of the one that will be used to allocate billions in federal funds. Local governments have less than two months to ask for corrections that could affect their portion of the money to improve Internet coverage.
The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research is aimed at states and territories that previously received little funding from the National Science Foundation. The hope is to boost scientific research across the nation.
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