The City of Oakland, Calif., is now partnering with EducationSuperHighway on a new initiative to connect 90 percent of Oakland’s estimated 36,951 unconnected homes to high-speed broadband over the next five years.
After more than two months of angling and dealmaking, the House of Representatives voted to approve the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework – on November 5, sending the bill along with its $2 billion in cyber funding and $65 billion in broadband appropriations to President Biden’s desk for final approval.
The First Responder Network Authority announced that FirstNet has now been adopted by more than 18,500 public safety agencies and organizations nationwide, which accounts for more than 2.8 million connections.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City would spend the next three years building publicly-owned broadband infrastructure serving 1.6 million residents while partnering on immediate-term affordable internet connectivity for more than 250,000 residents.
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice unveiled his $1 billion broadband strategy to connect 200,000 West Virginia homes and businesses.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized $554 million for broadband deployment through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
New York state has launched the Broadband Mapping Consumer Survey to assist in its first-ever in-depth statewide mapping study of broadband to identify the availability, reliability, and cost of high-speed broadband services across the state.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a mostly favorable review from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on how the agency is proceeding with improving broadband service access maps, but GAO also flagged that the FCC will face technological challenges with integrating disparate sources of broadband service location data.
A new agreement led by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will allow eight neighboring states and Washington, D.C., to offer Internet access, devices, and other technology to constituents through local agencies at a discounted rate via Verizon’s Digital Inclusion Program.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel – long an advocate for government action to make broadband services more affordable in order to lessen the digital divide in the U.S. – said this week that she welcomes current congressional action to boost funding for broadband benefits but also expressed some skepticism about the effectiveness of service rate discount cuts being contemplated by Congress.
