broadband

Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to classify broadband as a public utility. Once rules have been put in place this summer, providers will no longer be able to selectively block access to legal content, throttle access based on content or services or offer paid prioritization of traffic. In addition, the FCC also voted to preempt state laws that impair the deployment of community broadband providers. Municipalities and other groups will be able to offer affordable broadband and wireless data options in underserved communities. Read the announcement...

New York Gov. Cuomo unveiled a $1 billion public-private broadband program to ensure every New Yorker has access to high-speed Internet by 2019. Utilizing capital funds from bank settlements, the state will commit $500 million to the New NY Broadband Program with the intent of incentivizing the private sector to invest the additional $500 million to expand high-speed broadband access in underserved and unserved areas. To receive funding, the proposed plan must meet three qualifications:

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced the creation a new public-private partnership to support the development of a statewide, fiber broadband infrastructure with a focus on supporting economic and social prosperity across the commonwealth. The ambitious initiative would provide the entire state with high-speed internet – with the first components scheduled to be operational in less than two years. When completed, the more than 3,000 miles of fiber will be in place across the state. Overall, the project is estimated to cost between $250 million to $350 million over the next 30 years, and will be supported by approximately $30 million in state bonds and $15 million to $20 million in federal grants.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed a permanent $1.5 billion increase in the cap of the E-rate program as part of the largest overhaul of the initiative in 18 years. The E-rate program is the federal government’s largest educational technology program, funding broadband and wireless access for schools and libraries with a portion of the funds received through the Universal Service fee for interstate communications. Chairman Wheeler notes that the rate increase is necessary to provide high-speed access, including WiFi, to 100 percent of schools, which is needed for a modern STEM curriculum. Read the announcement…

As part of Next Century Cities, a new bipartisan, city-to-city initiative, 32 cities and their elected leaders from across the United States are uniting to recognize the importance of leveraging gigabit-level Internet for economic development. The initiative enables participating cities to work together to learn about best practices in engaging and assisting communities in developing and deploying next-generation broadband Internet so that every community has the resources needed to succeed. Next Century Cities was launched at a co-working space in Santa Monica, CA, featuring remarks from the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and the mayors of Santa Monica, Chattanooga, and Lafayette, LA, and panels featuring leading civic technology and innovation officials. The first group of cities features large municipalities such as Boston, Kansas City, Portland, and San Antonio, in addition to a variety of smaller cities across 19 states. 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a round of funding for rural broadband experiments in price cap areas that will deploy new, robust broadband to consumers. The FCC intends for these grants to be the next step for the Connect American Fund program. Grants will be made to support rural broadband experiments to explore how to structure the Phase II of the Connect American Fund’s competitive bidding process in price cap areas and to gather information about interest in deploying next generation networks in high-cost areas.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released its latest broadband report. The report provides summarized data on Internet access connections in the U.S. (over 200 kilobits per second in at least one direction). Key findings include the number of broadband connections with downstream speeds of at least 10 Mbps increased by 118% in the U.S. between June 2012 and June 2013. Users also may access the data sets presented in the report via tables and maps hosted on the FCC website.