Speed Threshold Bill, AT&T Increasing Fiber To Meet Work-From-Home, Maine Getting Free Tablets

March 10, 2021 – Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would provide Central Virginia customers with new broadband networks that would have sufficient upload and download speeds.

Called the Speedy Updates Act, it “would require a report on how best to update speed thresholds used to determine high-speed internet connectivity in Central Virginia,” according to the release.

“My bipartisan legislation would review the FCC’s process for updating speed thresholds and help make future recommendations about how to keep up with these changes. With this additional information, we can make sure Central Virginia’s rural communities can both increase local internet access and take advantage of this progress for years to come,” said Spanberger.

The FCC said in its 2019 Broadband Deployment Report that over 25 percent of Virginians in rural areas lacked access to high-speed internet. Central Virginians, however, could lack such access at far higher levels than previously reported due to the FCC’s outdated broadband mapping data. The inaccurate mapping data relies on the same speed thresholds from 2015 to define whether an area can be deemed to have sufficient broadband service.

Spanberger reintroduced the legislation with representative Dusty Johnson, R-S.D. The Speedy Updates Act would specifically require the Government Accountability Office to conduct an evaluation and report the FCC’s efficacy on standards and speed thresholds for broadband service.

AT&T will increase fiber investment to meet upload speed demand

The pandemic has increased the demand for not only download speeds, but upload speeds as well, AT&T CFO John Stephens said at a Deutsche Bank conference on Tuesday.

The telecom giant said video conferencing has exploded in use and that means subscribers are seeking better upload speeds.

As a result, AT&T said it will “increase its investment in fiber this year and focus on filling in areas where the company already has fiber to a neighborhood but hasn’t yet expanded to fiber to the home.”

Stephens, who will retire at the end of the month, said AT&T should benefit from fiber deployments in three ways: it provides backhaul for the company’s wireless services, delivers fiber directly to homes, and delivers fiber to enterprise customers.

“We have the opportunity to use fiber multiple ways to generate customer value and revenue opportunities for shareholders,” said Stephens.

Center providing eligible Mainers with free tablets

The National Digital Equity Center is helping to close the digital divide in Maine by offering tablets for free for a year.

NDEC will also be offering free one-on-one tutoring services to help tablet users to the internet and offer interactive online classes available to anyone who wants to attend them. The classes will range in multiple topics, including devices, internet safety, and Google-based tools.

NDEC founder and director Susan Corbett said the focus is on “teaching people how to use technology, how to connect with families, friends, and health care providers.”

Though the tablets will be on loan for one year, Corbett said that the center has been able to raise just under $4 million for the project. This would allow the affordable equipment initiative to continue for nearly five years.