Broadband Roundup
Florida Social Media Law Halted, Ohio GOP Drops Muni Broadband Ban, Online Privacy Protections For Children
Judge rules against Florida social media law, Ohio GOP cuts muni broadband ban, Democrats want increased child privacy protections.

July 1, 2021 – A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a new Florida law that would restrict the ability of some social media companies to remove from their platforms content and political figures may violate First Amendment rights.
The law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May and scheduled to go into effect on Thursday, would have penalized social media companies for banning political candidates, in light of recent activity surrounding big tech companies removing influential Republican figures like former President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida Tallahassee division imposed a temporary ban on the law coming into effect until a full determination of the case is made.
A week after the signing of the bill, NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association – who represent large tech companies like Amazon, Google, Intel and Facebook – filed the lawsuits on which Hinkle made his ruling.
The “plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim that these statutes violate the First Amendment,” Hinkle wrote in the decision.
Some believe the state will appeal, according to a press release from TechFreedom. The state views social media companies – long protected by a provision, Section 230, that protects them from legal liability for the content their users post on their platforms – as “common carriers,” the notion that these companies simply provide the platform for information and don’t get involved in what is and isn’t posted on their websites.
Ohio GOP drops municipal broadband ban
The Ohio GOP has dropped an amendment from their most recent budget bill that would’ve banned municipal broadband builds in the state.
According to multiple outlets, the axed provision would have both forced existing municipal networks to shut down and prevent new public infrastructure from being built. The amendment was challenged due to the lack of debate within the public domain.
The House had managed to drop the amendment in time for both houses of the legislature to get the bill to Governor Mike Dewine’s desk by the June 30 deadline.
In May, Ohio passed into law a bill that created its first residential broadband program. The program offers grants to ensure broadband access is rolled out to parts of the state where it would not be cost-productive to build networks.
Democrats call on companies to enforce stronger online protection for children
One Senate and two House Democrats are calling on big tech companies to enforce stronger online protections for underage users, as they and advocates push for those stronger protections to be implemented in legislation.
Sen. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Massachusetts, and Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Florida, signed a letter dated Wednesday and directed at the major tech companies asking that similar rules made in the United Kingdom be applied in the United States to bolster privacy for young people.
The members, for example, want the age for privacy protections raised to 13 years and older — instead of just under 13 in the US — as the companies apply in the UK. Advocates have asked those measured to be codified in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
“It is imperative that Congress acts with urgency to enact a strong privacy law for children and teens in the 21st century,” the letter reads.
The UK law, called the Age Appropriate Design Code, is expected to go into effect for all online companies by Sept. 2, 2021.
Broadband Roundup
FCC Fines TracFone, Rip and Replace Extensions, Kansas State Internet Exchange Point
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has entered into a settlement with TracFone for subsidy program violations.

November 29, 2023 – The Federal Communications Commission announced Wednesday that the Enforcement Bureau and TracFone Wireless, a Verizon Subsidiary, have reached a $23.5 million settlement for TracFone’s violation of broadband subsidy program rules.
After TracFone was acquired by Verizon, the company self-reported instances in which it violated the FCC’s regulatory rules for the Lifeline and Emergency Broadband Benefit programs, according to the agency
During an investigation into TracFone, the agency found that the company reported improperly claiming support for customers jointly-enrolled in subsidy programs and improperly using inbound text messages to make claims for customers who had not been using those services for at least 30 days, according to a press release.
According to the FCC, TracFone also conceded that some of their field enrollment representatives used false tax documents to enroll customers in the lifeline and EEB programs.
“Whether attributable to fraud or lax internal controls, or both, we will vigorously pursue allegations of misconduct that harms critical FCC programs designed to help those most in need of communications-related services,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal.
As part of the settlement, TracFone has entered into an improvement plan agreement with the Enforcement Bureau.
Wireline Bureau grants more rip and replace extensions
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced in an order Wednesday that it has granted rip and replace extensions to Montana providers Triangle Telephone Cooperative Association Inc. and Triangle Communication System Inc.
The rip and replace program requires service providers to remove and replace any equipment they use that was manufactured by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation that were installed prior to June 30, 2020, because of security concerns.
Triangle Telephone filed for an extension on October 18 and on November 10th, requesting an extension to replace the equipment by Map 29, 2024 as opposed to their original deadline of November 29 of this year.
Triangle Communications filed their request for extension on October 18 and November 16 of this year requesting for additional time up until July 13, 2024, as opposed to January 13, 2024.
Both petitioners cited supply chain disruptions and delayed equipment delivery as factors preventing them from replacing existing equipment alongside poor weather conditions and a decreasing number of employees.
Both providers were granted the extensions they had requested.
Additional funding from Congress has been requested by president Joe Biden to finance the rip and replace program, as a report published by the Federal Communications Commission in July of 2022 noted that the program’s initial $1.9 billion would not be enough to support providers.
In October of this year the FCC’s Wireline Bureau issued extensions to two other providers who cited that they were unable to completely replace the equipment due to lack of funding.
Kansas awards $5 million to internet exchange point
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday announced that the state had awarded $5 million to help fund the construction of the first carrier-neutral internet exchange point at Wichita State University.
The construction of this carrier-neutral internet exchange point will allow for the operation of cloud services and streaming content networks to operate more efficiently alongside local and regional internet networks, explained a press release.
The endeavor will be undertaken by Connected Nation, a Kentucky non-profit, and Hunter Newby, founder of Newby Ventures investment firm, working with them to build and operate the internet exchange facility.
Tom Ferree, CEO of Connected Nation, said that the exchange point will support Wichita State and the economy well “by improving the entire regional broadband landscape — preparing Wichita, and Kansas more broadly, for the future evolution of the Internet and all that it will enable.”
Broadband Roundup
NTIA Awards $13 Million from Wireless Fund, New Ritter CTO, Middle Mile in Virginia and North Carolina
The NTIA has awarded $13 million to open network projects.

November 28, 2023 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced Tuesday that it is committing $13 million in grant funding from the $1.5 billion Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund.
“The transition to open, interoperable wireless networks is now well on its way — bringing with it greater security, competition, and resiliency,” said NTIA Alan Davidson in a press release announcing the funding, adding the fund will accelerate the transition toward open and interoperable wireless by financially backing research and development.
The seven projects that will be awarded funding are expected to improve the networks’ security, energy efficiency, and allow them to leverage AI to automate the network testing process.
The fund is supported by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which aims to invest in domestic manufacturing to improve national supply chain resiliency.
Ritter Communications new CTO
Telecom service provider Ritter Communications announced Monday that Victor Esposito will serve as the company’s chief technology officer, after having served as its vice president of engineering and network operations.
In his new role, Esposito will lead all of Ritter’s technology-related teams, read a press release.
“[Victor] has the leadership, skills and drive to keep us and our customers on the cutting edge of innovation as well as maintaining the company’s steep growth trajectory,” said Ritter Communications president Heath Simpson.
Esposito joined Ritter Communications in April of this year and will succeed Greg Sunderwood, who served as CTO position for 11 years.
Middle mile to be built in Virginia and North Carolina
Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative announced Tuesday that it is partnering with Ciena, a networking systems service provider, to help install middle mile infrastructure to serve more than 31,000 customers in Virginia and North Carolina.
MEC currently services 4,511 square miles in those respective states with its electric distribution system and is partnering with Ciena to deliver low-latency connectivity and aggregate operation technology to better broadband, explained a press release.
“During our network deployment, we will pass tens of thousands of homes, businesses, and organizations, and we found it unthinkable to miss the opportunity to extend this fiber resource to our communities,” said Dwayne Long, vice president of information technology at MEC.
Broadband Roundup
Broadcom Finalizes VMware, $191M for Wilkes Rural Broadband, Kinetic Fiber in Georgia
Broadcom announces the closing of their $69 billion acquisition of VMware.

November 27, 2023 – Broadcom, a semiconductor and infrastructure solution company, announced Wednesday that it has finalized its $69-billion acquisition of VMware, a cloud computing company.
Broadcom will offer modernized VMware cloud services to enterprise customers, which will assist in helping applications deploy more efficiently and improve advanced security services, explained a press release.
“We are excited to welcome VMware to Broadcom and bring together our engineering-first, innovation-centric teams as we take another important step forward in building the world’s leading infrastructure technology company,” said Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.
Broadcom initially announced its intention to acquire VMware in May 2022, and underwent the process of receiving regulatory approvals from countries including Australia, Brazil and Canada.
Wilkes gets $191M to complete rural broadband rollout
Internet service provider Wilkes Communications and its subsidiary RiverStreet Networks announced November 20 that they have secured a $191.1-million private loan to complete its rural broadband expansion in North Carolina and Virginia.
The financing comes from CoBank, which has a specific stream for rural broadband projects.
The fiber expansion project is expected to reach and service 100,000 locations by the time it is completed with a goal being to replace the remaining Wilkes infrastructure that relies on copper with fiber, read a press release.
“With this substantial financial backing, we are ready to break down barriers and bring the digital future within reach for even the most remote regions of North Carolina and Virginia,” said Wilkes Communications CEO Eric Cramer.
Wilkes has already received $270 million in funding from federal, state and local grants, which will go toward supplementing the loan from CoBank.
Kinetic lays out plan for Georgia buildout
Internet service provider Kinetic announced Tuesday its plan to rollout fiber to more than 70 percent of Colquitt County, Georgia in 2024.
The buildout will include nearly 440 miles of fiber – of which 180 has already been installed – meaning nearly 17,000 homes and 7,400 more customers will get fiber, the company said.
Kinetic said it is working with Colquitt Electric Membership Corp. to complete the $32.5-million fiber network, which includes $21.4 million in state money from the Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Program, which was backed by American Rescue Plan funds, and the remaining $11.1 million will come from Kinetic itself.
“We believe this transformation will open up new opportunities, including enhancing people’s qualities of life and driving economic growth,” said Michael Foor, president of Kinetic Georgia Operations, in the press release.
The company said currently 40 percent of the county is currently eligible to receive their fiber services.
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