Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced a proposal to spend $50 million on building universal broadband internet service in his upcoming budget, the first part of a multi-year $250 million plan to improve internet access across the commonwealth. The increase for the state’s 2020 budget will connect tens of thousands more Virginians and potentially more than 100,000 more Virginians who currently do not have access to broadband internet.
Speaker backs rural broadband proposal
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston announced that he "supports a plan to fund rural broadband by sticking a new tax on e-books, steaming services and other digital goods while lowering an existing tax on traditional services such as landlines and cable TV." In a statement discuss...
City Council votes to approve 5G in city limits
Sioux Falls "will be one of the first in cities South Dakota – and possibly among the first in the nation – to roll out 5G technology." Verizon Wireless has been given the go-ahead from city council to install "small cell technology" on poles and parks around the city....
Rep. Lisa Stone Barnes to tackle broadband in first term
One of the first things that North Carolina Rep. Lisa Stone Barnes wants to focus on in the legislature is "expanding broadband coverage in rural areas of her district." Barnes said that "lack of broadband access cuts her constituents off from educations and health care opportunit...
State leaders meet in Elkins to discuss economic strategy, high-speed broadband access
During an Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce meeting last week, state legislators brought up the need for high-speed broadband connectivity. State Sen. Greg Boso called on Verizon and AT&T to "at least build the infrastructure so that it encourages them to branch off of th...
Nominee for Mills Cabinet sees broadband access as key to Maine economy
Gov.-elect Janet Mills nominated Heather Johnson, the woman charged with expanding broadband access in Maine, to be her economic development commissioner on Thursday. Johnson, who has a background in public- and private-sector economic development and communications, now heads the...
Lawmakers look to bring high-speed Internet to rural Georgia
After six months of negotiations, representatives of local governments and the wireless industry have reached agreement on legislation making it easier to deploy next-generation small-cell wireless technology critical to business growth in Georgia.