WASHINGTON, August 31, 2009 – The role of rural communities continues to play a major part in the debate over the state of the nation’s broad¬band with a new study finding that high-speed Internet access helps grow their economic base.

WASHINGTON, August 31, 2009 – The Federal Communica¬tions Commission is making good on its efforts to be transparent and timely – this time in 140 characters or less. The agency has joined the thousands of Twitterers by launching its tweets at http://www.twitter.com/fccdotgov. The FCC’s tweets include news about the agency and progress reports on the national broadband plan.

WASHINGTON, August 31, 2009 – The National Telecommunications Information Administration gives a look back and a look ahead with a new report to Congress it released the week before last. The unit of the Commerce Department submitted its second annual report on its $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

WASHINGTON, August 31, 2009 – The broadband policy center of gravity is beginning to shift from northwest to the southwest – or at least from NW Washington, where the Commerce Department and its National Telecommunications and Information Administration is based, to SW Washington, at the Federal Communications Commission.

WASHINGTON, August 31, 2009 – Although the NTIA and RUS are expected to release the names of the applicants for broadband stimulus funding later this week, the names of many of the applicants are emerging through press releases and through reporting by a wide variety of organizations.

WASHINGTON, August 31, 2009 – Now comes the tough part. Nearly 2,200 applications poured into the NTIA and the RUS, the agencies said last week. They sought $27.6 billion in funding – seven times more than is available this round. Applicant names are expected to be released this week.

WASHINGTON, August 27, 2009 – Nearly 2,200 applications were submitted for federal funding from the federal government’s broadband stimulus program, seeking $27.6 billion in funding, out of $4.3 billion that is available, said the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service.

WASHINGTON, August 25, 2009 – One year ago, BroadbandCensus.com joined in support of One Web Day. Both for BroadbandCensus.com and for broadband policy and internet technology, a lot has changed in the past year. We launched BroadbandCensus.com in January 2008 with the simple and straightforward goal of making basic broadband information – information about Broadband Speeds, Prices, Availability, Reliability and Competition – public and freely available to users of broadband services. Many wondered why this was necessary. In the lead-up to our “Broadband Census for America Conference,” in September 2008, we were still highlighting the importance of broadband and of solid broadband data in the economy and in society.

WASHINGTON, August 24, 2009 – Apple, Inc. and AT&T on Friday filed responses with the Federal Communications Commission in which both companies strenuously denied that Apple’s removal of the Google Voice application from Apple’s iPhone App Store was for anticompetitive reasons.

WASHINGTON, August 20, 2009 – One of the largest challenges in developing a national broadband plan will be to find out who has it, who doesn’t and what it is used for, said Consumer Research Director John Horrigan in his opening remarks at an FCC staff workshop.