Broadband Roundup
Veterans’ Affairs Pilots 5G, Bill de Blasio and Verizon, Chattanooga Free Internet, New WISPA Board

The Department of Veterans Affairs is extending its 5G hospital innovation project, beyond the Palo Alto-based hospital where it began 9 months ago, reports NextGov.
In addition to the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, the department has already begun work expanding the project to a VA facility in Lake Nona, Florida and the Puget Sound VA Medical Center in Seattle.
The department unveiled the project, named Project Convergence, in February as part of a public-private partnership with Verizon, Microsoft and medical software developer Medvis.
Through the collaboration, Verizon provides a 5G network connection. The 5G backbone supports Microsoft’s HoloLens information delivery platform and headset, which is used with imaging software from Medivis that officials can tap to transform complex health information into interactive 3D holograms, models and overlays.
To put into context what this means, when wearing the Microsoft HoloLens, “you can actually take a patient’s MRI or CT scan, and place it over the patient and actually see below the surface before you make any incision.” said Ryan Vega, executive director of the Veterans Heath Administration’s Innovation Ecosystem.
5G holds the promise of high speed, low latency internet connections, which officials believe willl revolutionize how the VA provides care. Vega added that Medivis’ solution is a Food and Drug Administration-cleared surgical navigation system.
Mayor de Blasio holds Verizon accountable to connect NYC households to broadband
Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a new initiative aimed at tackling the digital divide in New York City—a settlement ensuring that Verizon builds out its FiOS footprint to 500,000 additional households.
Under the settlement, Verizon is compelled to prioritize the least-connected districts and ensure connectivity for every NYC Housing Authority residential building. The city began proceedings against Verizon due to the telecom’s failure to meet the terms of its cable franchise agreement to build out its Fios network, inked under the Bloomberg administration.
Due to the corporation’s previous failure to connect many buildings, large portions of New York City neighborhoods are under an effective monopoly, with only one cable and broadband provider, which risks rendering consumers with lower speeds and higher costs. The settlement will make high-speed fiber broadband available to more New Yorkers.
“Internet access is an economic right in New York City, no matter your ZIP code,” said de Blasio. “Tech giants will not stand in our way to deliver high-quality broadband to New Yorkers. They must be a part of the solution.”
“COVID-19 has further exposed the inequalities in internet access while changing the way New Yorkers work, learn, and live. We will continue to hold any corporation that fails to deliver on its promise to New Yorkers accountable,” de Blasio maintained.
Free internet in Chattanooga, Tennessee will outlast the pandemic
Over the summer, the Hamilton County public school system, which encompasses the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, announced it would be providing high-speed internet access to families with students on free or reduced lunch plans through a program called EdConnect. The service is funded through the next ten years, meaning the free high-speed internet service helping keep students connected should well outlast the pandemic.
EdConnect is the outcome of a collaboration between Chattanooga’s municipal electric utility, a broadband service provider to many Chattanooga residents, and the Hamilton County school board. The service is an initiative to accommodate online learning for low-income students in the district. Hamilton County estimated that close to 17,500 households within the district didn’t have high-speed internet access, prior to the pandemic.
The school board worked with EPB Fiber Optics to fundraise $8 million from foundations and community partners for the high-speed program. Additional funds were offered by the city of Chattanooga, as well as from the state and from federal CARES Act funds.
Jill Levine, chief of innovation and choice at Hamilton County Schools, says there had been conversations about providing high-speed internet access to students prior to the pandemic, but the need had never been so urgent. The fact that many students did not have high-speed internet, or any internet access at all, became clear to the district when online learning began.
WISPA announces Mark Radabaugh as the association’s new Chairman of the Board
The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association announced today that its Board of Directors chose Mark Radabaugh as WISPA’s new Chairman of the Board. Radabaugh will replace former Chairman Nathan Stooke for a one-year term.
In 1997, Radabaugh began providing Toledo residents with broadband connectivity through his company, Amplex Internet. Since then, his extensive experience in unlicensed wireless broadband delivery, network design and all facets of residential and business broadband service delivery has enabled Radabaugh and his partners to grow Amplex to reach 9,500 customers, covering a 2,000 square mile service territory.
Radabaugh has been on the WISPA Board of Directors since 2013, and from 2015 has chaired WISPA’s FCC Committee, overseeing the association’s regulatory policy formation and agency filings. From 2017 to 2018, Radabaugh also served on the FCC’s Broadband Development Advisory Committee subgroup on Removing State and Local Barriers to Broadband.
When accepting the post, Radabaugh said he was grateful that his colleagues bestowed this honor on him. “We’re a tremendous industry that’s offering real solutions which make people’s lives better. I’m proud I can do my part to help tell this awesome success story,” said Radabaugh.
Broadband Roundup
AT&T Partners with Ericsson on OpenRAN, FCC Extends Engineering Waiver, New COO at Atlas Digital Group
AT&T is pushing for more interoperability of equipment on its wireless network.

December 6, 2023 – AT&T announced Monday a partnership with Swedish mobile wireless equipment maker Ericsson to build out its open radio access network to get ahead of the race to allow the networks to work with various equipment suppliers.
The five-year contract with Ericsson could see AT&T spend roughly $14 billion and eventually see 70 percent of its wireless network traffic travel over open platforms by late 2026.
Beginning in 2025, AT&T said it will be coordinating with multiple suppliers on the development of the Open RAN ecosystem, including Intel, Dell, Corning, and Fujitsu.
“AT&T’s and Ericsson’s multiyear joint commitment to Open RAN deployment comes at a pivotal moment in the 5G innovation cycle,” the telecom said in a press release. “This move to an open, agile, programmable wireless network positions AT&T to quickly capitalize on the next generation of wireless technology and spectrum when it becomes available.
“These innovative technologies will enable lower-power, sustainable networks with higher performance to deliver enhanced user experiences,” it added. “Ericsson’s open architecture will provide a foundation and springboard for developers driving innovation through open and programmable networks and bringing new suppliers into the industry. This will foster modernization and competition in the U.S. wireless equipment market.”
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the head of the Federal Communications Commission have said that open RAN deployments would allow network owners to move away from proprietary technologies to diversify the supply chain and reduce security risks.
The NTIA is currently in the midst of distributing money from the $1.5-billion Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, which is intended to help telecoms transition to open, interoperable wireless networks.
Ericsson plans to use the 5G smart factory in Lewisville, Texas to provide equipment to the project.
FCC extends waiver to allow the use of non-professional certified engineers
The Federal Communications Commission filed an order Thursday extending the use of a waiver that permits telecommunication companies to use non-professional certified engineers to sign off on broadband data collection.
The use of the waiver was set to expire on September 15th of this year for broadband data recorded as of June 30th 2023, but now will extend for three more filing periods to be used for data collected up to December 31, 2024.
The FCC reasoned that extending the use of the waiver “strikes an appropriate balance by giving providers limited relief from the PE requirement, on the condition that they are able to expeditiously provide to the Commission, when requested, underlying network information that supports their availability data.”
Industry associations USTelecom and the Competitive Carriers Association filed a petition in August to extend for three filing periods the use of a waiver that does not require provider’s broadband data filings to be verified by a licensed professional engineer. They argued that requiring sign-off from a licensed professional engineer would burden smaller providers.
The FCC put in place a rule requiring mapping data to be signed off by a certified engineer and a corporate officer, but would accept a single signature sign off if the signatory could qualify both of those positions.
In 2020 Congress passed the Broadband DATA Act, which required the FCC to create a new set of rules to regulate how biannual broadband service data was collected and distributed. As a part of that act, service providers were required to submit verification from a “corporate officer” that any data they had collected was accurate.
Atlas Digital Group appoints new COO
Atlas Digital Group, an e-commerce company serving the broadband industry, announced Monday that Chad Neuhaus will be taking on a new role as the company’s chief operating officer.
Neuhaus will manage the implementation of operational strategies, promoting quality control across deliverables and working with senior management members to work on continued development strategy, explained a press release.
“I’m ready to contribute to an outstanding team and help the company achieve even stronger performance as we roar into 2024,” said Neuhaus.
Prior to joining Atlas Digital Group, Neuhaus served for 23 years in various roles at telecommunications companies, including Altice and AT&T, a press release said.
Broadband Roundup
Nvidia Navigates Export Rules, FCC on High-Cost, Kansas Awards Fiber Grants
Department of Commerce continues to combat the export of U.S. semiconductors to adversarial nations

December 4, 2023 – Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Saturday that the department is ready and willing to impose further export restrictions on any products made by graphics card maker NVIDIA that assists adversarial nations in developing their artificial intelligence capabilities, according to a story from Fortune.
“If you redesign a chip around a particular cut line that enables them to do AI, I’m going to control it the very next day,” Raimondo said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, according to Fortune.
Nvidia, which has been focusing on its development as an AI company, has restructured its advanced chips to access the Chinese market, which is worth at least $400 million in sales. In response to exports restrictions imposed by Commerce in August 2022, Nvidia tweaked its A100 chip series to comply with U.S. rules, limiting the processing capabilities and re-releasing the chips under a new name, the A800 series.
In October 2023, Commerce imposed additional licensing requirements based on performance threshold to limit the export of high-performance computing chips, to include the A800 series. Less than a month later, Nvidia had introduced a series of GPUs with limited computing capabilities in compliance with Commerce export requirements, made available to Chinese customers.
Commerce has said it is trying to limit risks of the chips being used in foreign military operations.
In response to Secretary Raimondo’s recent claims, Nvidia told Broadband Breakfast, “We are engaged with the U.S. government and, following the government’s clear guidelines, are working to offer compliant data center solutions to customers worldwide.”
The advanced chips are central components to the rise of artificial intelligence, autonomous machines, cloud and high-performance computing.
FCC issues guidance to high-cost support recipients
The Federal Communications Commission released guidance Wednesday for recipients of high-cost support, outlining the coordination necessary between the recipients, state broadband offices and Tribal entities to avoid overbuilding in areas supported by multiple broadband programs.
The FCC notes that the recipients of the high-cost programs, which include the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model, and Connect America Fund, must participate in the broadband map challenge process as states prepare to deliver money from the $42.5-billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
“Full participation of high-cost support recipients in BEAD Program challenge processes is critical to ensuring that the FCC’s high-cost funding is not duplicated by the BEAD Program,” the FCC said in the guidance.
“Participation in the BEAD Program challenge process also ensures state broadband offices receive information about high-cost program supported deployments beyond the valuable information provided on the Broadband Funding Map,” it added.
These recipients should coordinate with their respective state broadband office by taking steps to ensure that the National Broadband Map accurately reflects the locations they serve, the speeds they provide to the locations, and the technologies they are using to serve those locations, the FCC emphasized.
In addition, the FCC guidance emphasizes that high-cost support recipients should engage with each relevant Tribal government annually to obtain the necessary consent, permits, and other approvals as soon as practicable, even if the recipient has not begun deployment.
The Tribal engagement obligation set by the FCC represents an opportunity for Tribal governments and high-cost support recipients to coordinate on many issues critical to the deployment and adoption of communications technologies on Tribal lands.
Kansas awards $28.5 million in state broadband grants
Kansas announced it is awarding $28.5 million in broadband grants Wednesday to 12 internet service providers through the state’s Lasting Infrastructure and Network Connectivity program. All of the funding dedicated to broadband infrastructure is going toward deploying fiber technology.
One of the largest awards is to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, a native American tribe, which will bring fiber-to-the-home connectivity to all of the nation’s 204 residences, as well as to 10 Tribal government services locations on the PBPN reservation.
Additionally, included in the awards is funding for Kansas’ first carrier-neutral Internet Exchange Point, which will be located on the campus of Wichita State University. The IXP stands to reduce IP transit pricing to below 10 cents per megabit, an expected 90% reduction in cost as compared to current transport and transit pricing through Kansas City, Missouri.
The awards will also expand middle mile infrastructure through two economically distressed counties in north central Kansas.
The state funds will be matched by the ISPs for a total of $33.9 million in additional investments.
Broadband Roundup
Supply Chain Improvements, Bill for Broadband in Public Parks, FCC Grants Alert System Compliance Extension
The Biden administration announced Wednesday a list of new measures to promote supply chain resiliency.

November 30, 2023 – President Joe Biden announced at an inaugural meeting Wednesday new measures to improve national supply chain resilience, many of which are targeted at bettering semiconductor manufacturing.
These new measures will see the development of a geospatial mapping protocol that will be used to account for and track trade disruptions of raw materials, with a special focus on ones that are involved in semiconductor manufacturing.
Additionally, the US plans to develop a resilience center to assess risks and supply chain vulnerabilities specifically inside national ports alongside looking at how to better implement CHIPS and Science funding.
In July of 2022, the Biden administration signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act, which was broadly supported by lawmakers, putting $52 billion into semiconductor research and development and a 25 percent investment tax credit to promote manufacturing.
More recently, Biden has announced tech innovation hubs supported by CHIPS Act funds, four of which will focus directly on improving semiconductor production and manufacturing.
Legislation put forth to expand broadband to public parks
Congressman Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, and Congressman Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, introduced legislation Wednesday that would bring broadband connectivity to public parks and lakes.
The Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act would include increasing broadband connectivity in those visitor centers and surrounding areas as well as create digital passes for visitors to use when going to those parks.
“The increasing popularity of outdoor recreation is a boon for local economies and job creation, but we must make sure our public land management agencies have the tools, resources, and staff they need to keep up,” said Grijalva.
The broader legislation looks to improve access to public lands and waters, modernize visitor experiences and reduce overcrowding.
FCC granted emergency alert development extensions to broadcasters
The Federal Communications Commission granted extensions to certain national broadcasters Wednesday, allowing them more time to acquire equipment needed to comply with national emergency alert system requirements.
There are two ways that broadcasters can transmit emergency messages, either to devices connected to the internet using what is called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System or over audio channels, which is referred to as the legacy emergency alert broadcast system.
Historically, messages sent via IPAWS transmit more information to the recipient than ones that are formatted for being transmitted via the legacy system. Because of that, in 2022 the FCC required emergency broadcasters to alert constituents via the IPAWS unless they were unable to.
Broadcasters were required to comply with this by December 12 of this year. However the National Association of Broadcasters and REC Networks, a broadcast advocacy group, filed a joint request for a 90-day compliance extension.
They explained that Sage Alerting Systems, a manufacturer of firmware needed to encode and decode emergency messages, is not able to meet supply demands for broadcasters to update equipment by the December 12 deadline.
As a result, the FCC waived the deadline and granted a 90-day extension to emergency broadcast participants who are customers of Sage Alerting Systems.
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