Network

The funding will help the state activate its Digital Equity Plan, part of a national endeavor to clear barriers to Internet access and use. The money, a grant, is intended to confront challenges including lack of affordable devices and insufficient digital skills.

The county has pledged the contribution of funds after winning a longshot bid for a state grant toward the endeavor. The state will contribute $26.1 million through its ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Grant Program.

Plus, the Federal Communications Commission is pushing for greater network security measures after a cyber attack, additional funding has been awarded through the Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, and more.

Officials in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin and Tulare counties are asking why the San Joaquin Valley received just 6.6 percent of the first $804 million California gave out to increase access to affordable broadband.

The company has extended its network north of Sterling, Ill., the latest piece of its $1.4 billion investment in its network in the state during the last three years. This piece brings its full service suite to the county including unserved homes.

Plus, Kansas will soon open funding applications to expand connectivity, a Colorado county is receiving federal funding for broadband, the economic benefits of improving Internet access in Harlan County, Ky., and more.

The State Transportation Board has picked a private-sector collaborator to handle maintenance, operations and commercialization as it builds out 1,400 miles of high-speed Internet infrastructure on all Georgia interstates.

The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act came with billions to invest in broadband nationwide, for rural areas, schools and businesses. Application requirements and other mandates, however, threaten to constrain the deployment of high-speed Internet.

Plus, more states have been awarded federal funding from the Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, and the city of Boulder, Colo., has announced a new partnership to expand community broadband.

Kiowa and Elizabeth, Colo., are the state's first communities to get high-speed Internet as a result of its nearly $1 billion allocation of federal broadband funds. The goal is to connect 99 percent of households statewide by 2027.

The Columbia County town of nearly 3,000 got high-speed Internet last week with the completion of a broadband fiber-optic line. Residents and officials realized the impact a lack of high-speed Internet was having during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Boulder City Council has unanimously approved a long-awaited agreement that will eventually empower the rollout of citywide broadband. Officials signed off on letting ALLO Communications LLC lease part of the city’s fiber backbone for 20 years.

Nearly 100,000 households in New Mexico are left out of the mix of state and federal programs designed to help them get reliable, high-speed Internet. Satellite Internet technology could improve their access until more reliable broadband is deployed.

Plus, the industry reacts to a new Federal Communications Commission chairperson, a North Carolina partnership with 211 aims to connect people to information in an emergency, and more.

The state's second-largest county by land area is working with eX² Technology to stand up a 200-mile fiber-optic network, bringing high-speed Internet to more than 20 cities and at least one higher education institution.

The incident, which affected state courts for two weeks, is ending as the Administrative Office of the Courts restores systems on the network. A forensic analysis is ongoing but unauthorized activity has been eliminated.

The North Star for the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program is comprehensive connectivity for all homes and businesses, officials said at the Connecting Communities Summit. That could come through fiber or fixed wireless.

A former federal telecommunications official said it is unlikely Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program funding will be clawed back and work disrupted. Infrastructure could, however, become more tech-neutral.