In 2016, the California Public Utilities Commission recommended Inyo Networks, a telecomunications company based in California, to help initiate a project to build Nicasio’s broadband service. The commission also granted to city $1.5 million, 60 percent of the total cost for the project, stating that Nicasio landowners had to raise the other 40 percent. Since then, over 50 percent of landowners contributed to the project, which has a scope of 220 customers. As the project has taken off, there are now 80 customers in Nicasio that have broadband service, and that number is expected to double by early spring. The Nicasio project is the first collaborative broadband project in the county, where nearly 4,000 locations had inadequate broadband connections in 2014.
SC continues to invest in telehealth, but internet connections lag
South Carolina is expanding access to telemedicine which is seen as a solution to deteriorating health care services in rural parts of the state. Still though, some 537,000 people in South Carolina don’t have an adequate internet connection at home—about 11 percent of the st...
House OKs public-private partnerships for roads, broadband projects
The House of Representatives approved House Bill 286 on Friday by a vote of 64-0. Sponsored by five lawmakers from both political parties, this bill would allow any government agency in the state to enter into a long-term agreement with a private entity to finance and build road a...
$1.25 million earmarked for broadband, library, park
The Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development had awarded a Keystone Communities Program grant of $500,000 to help Indiana County leaders to extend broadband internet access to underserved rural, outlying areas of the county. In total, the award of four grants to...
South Portland broadband plan could hit funding snag
An action plan for using $436,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds received unanimous City Council approval Tuesday night in Portland, ME. However, the plan to be submitted to the Cumberland County Commissioners, and eventually the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban De...
Rural broadband funding could connect more Ohio Valley communities to high-speed
With the new funding for a USDA Rural Development pilot program called ReConnect, which allows companies, nonprofits, and communities in under-served regions to apply for loans and grants to fund broadband projects, there may now be funding for building broadband infrastructure in...
Statewide broadband bill passes out of committee
A bipartisan bill that would support the expansion of broadband service in Washington State, introduced in January by Gov. Jay Inslee, passed out of the House Capital Budget Committee last Tuesday in a unanimous vote. Governor Inslee’s office wrote that federal data "grossly...