US Ignite on Infrastructure Funds, Crypto at World Economic Forum, Great Plains Fiber Run
US Ignite is pushing member organizations to apply for NTIA funding under the infrastructure bill.
Riley Haight
May 31, 2022 – US Ignite, an organization that works to advance high-speed communications networks, is pushing its members to apply for funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Agency’s Internet for All program, which stems from money allocated under the infrastructure bill.
The NTIA released its notices of funding opportunity on May 13 for three open grant programs: Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program ($42.5 billion), State Digital Equity Act programs ($1.5 billion) and the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program ($1.5 Billion).
“As a reminder, eligible applicants (states, territories, tribal governments) should receive $100 million for broadband from the federal government, with the remaining funds awarded depending on the proportion of unserved and underserved communities in a region. To get started with BEAD Program funding, all eligible applicants must submit a letter of intent (LOI) by July 18, 2022 via an online portal at NTIA.gov,” said US Ignite, adding that more than 30 states have already done this.
“States, territories, and tribal governments have eagerly awaited NTIA’s funding opportunity notices since the infrastructure law passed six months ago. With these in hand, it’s time to prepare for what comes next,” US Ignite said.
Crypto discussion at World Economic Forum
Global leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday for its annual World Economic Forum to discuss international issues, including decentralizing wealth through cryptocurrencies.
Politico journalist Ryan Heath said the interest from the Davos crowd in crypto might be to protect their wealth. “I think a lot of very wealthy people are going to say, well, maybe I should have something in something that nobody can take away.”
Politico termed the Davos attendees a “crypto-curious crowd”, and talked about decentralizing wealth interested through systems that will take away power from centralized banking such as Web3, blockchain and crypto.
Great Plains adds new fiber route from Omaha to Kansas City
Great Plains Communications, a Midwestern telecommunications provider, announced Tuesday it completed its new 400 Gigabit per second-capable route from Omaha, Nebraska to Kansas City, Kansas.
A press release stated this new high-speed addition provides “rapid scalability, diversity and increased reliability.”
“This diverse and reliable addition to the GPC network enables the company to provide multi-Gbps service to large enterprises, hyperscalers and fiber to the tower customers,” said GPC in a press release.
“With the continuing rise of bandwidth demand, the ability to rapidly scale is essential,” said Tony Thakur, chief technology officer at Great Plains Communications. “This route addition is just one example of the company’s commitment to continue expanding and improving our network to meet the changing needs of our customers as we position them for success both now and in the future.”
