The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the Universal Service Fund to ensure that all Americans, especially those in rural or low income communities, have broadband access. The FCC administers the fund through four programs: High Cost Support Mechanism, Low Income Support Mechanism, Rural Health Care Support Mechanism, and Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism.
Infrastructure
WASHINGTON, March 8, 2017 – Despite high hopes that President Trump’s campaign promise for a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill would lead to additional investment in high-speed internet access, it appears that broadband deployment and accessibility is taking a back seat in Congress to brick-and mo
FCC
Broadband Breakfast Insight: New York State continues its innovative efforts to provide broadband funding to underserved areas of the state. In addition to funding for traditional and non-traditional telecom companies, the program has received funding from the Federal Communications Commission’s Lif
RUS
Broadband Breakfast Insight: This is a significant development to see emerging from the House of Representatives, which is generally less focused on rural broadband issues than the Senate. This new measure, the “New Deal Rural Broadband Act,” has an array of items, but one significant part appears t
FCC
Broadband Breakfast Insight: This item from the “Friday news dump” got less attention, but may be the more significant of the measures taken by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. In addition to overturning aspects of the Lifeline changes made by the Obama-era FCC, he and the Republ
FCC
WASHINGTON, January 26, 2017 – In his first substantive action since being named to his position on Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced approval of the petition by New York State’s broadband program to access the Connect America Fund. The agency’s full press releas
White House
Editor’s Note: The White House announced that it would be releasing a report from its Broadband Opportunity Council on Monday, September 21. Read more about the council. Coming Soon: Building on Our Progress of Broadband Investment and Competition August 20, 2015 at 5:57 PM ET by Jeffrey Zients Summ
Infrastructure
June 18, 2015 – Recent changes to the eligibility rules for the Federal Communication Commission’s eRate program open the door for new fiber connections for schools and libraries using agency funds. Among the rule changes were the suspension of the requirement that applicants seek funding for large
USF
In a story from Communications Daily about the progress of WiredWest, the Massachusetts-based municipal broadband effort, reporter Samantha Madison quotes me as follows. Drew Clark, of counsel to Kirton McConkie, said this is an exciting time because it’s a great implementation of the next phase of
FCC
Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Conference [https://broadbandbreakfast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/shlb_2015_masthead_print-1024x256.jpg]https://broadbandbreakfast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/shlb_2015_masthead_print.jpg WASHINGTON, May 18, 2015 – More than five years after
USF
AUSTIN, May 18, 2015 – The Rural Telecommunications Congress posted the entire video and presentations made at the recent Rural Telecommunications Congress held here last month at the Broadband Communities Summit. The original link to the sessions is at http://www.ruraltelecon.org/2015-rtc-bbc-summ
Broadband Communities
AUSTIN, April 16, 2015 – The board of the directors of the Rural Telecommunications Congress voted here on Wednesday to elect a new slate of officers to lead the organization, building upon its work over the last several years. At its annual meeting held jointly with the Broadband Communities Summi
Telehealth
AUSTIN, April 14, 2015 – The Rural Telecommunications Congress portion of the Broadband Communities Summit opens here Tuesday with a series of conference sessions focused on looking beyond conventional rural telecom. Rural Telecommunications Congress [https://broadbandbreakfast.com/wp-content/uploa
Broadband Mapping and Data
AUSTIN, April 14, 2015 – The official from the Federal Communications Commission responsible for the agency’s unique “rural broadband experiment” on Monday said the experiment was less about learning than about teaching the rural telecom industry that it can do better. Speaking on panel at the Broa
BBC
__1421904841 [https://broadbandbreakfast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/1421904841-300x107.png]AUSTIN, April 9, 2015 – The Rural Telecommunications Congress (RTC) will take center-stage at the 2015 Broadband Conference Summit here next week. Preconference workshops begin on Monday, April 13 and the
CETF
WASHINGTON, November 19, 2014 – Although some believe that the digital divide is not a problem, there are Americans who have not adopted broadband due to the cost or lack of access. Some states have played an active role in getting their citizens online, and one such organization is the California E
FCC
WASHINGTON, November 17, 2014 – Federal Communications Committee Chairman Tom Wheeler and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., on Monday proposed increasing the $1.5 billion cap to the E-rate portion of the Universal Service Fund. Schools and libraries, who would benefit from such an increase, have been calling
