By a vote of 6-1, with two councilors absent, the Loveland City Council approved the second reading of an ordinance allowing the city to issue the bonds. Loveland staff will now begin the three-year process to construct a city-wide fiber broadband network that is capable of offering up to gigabit speeds for any resident or business. The city and its consultants will immediately start the process of bonding for about $97 million (the exact amount depends on a number of factors, including the interest rate on the bonds, the term of the bonds and structure of the financing).
Senators: FCC should diversify broadband mapping data sources
A bipartisan quartet of senators has introduced a bill to improve the FCC’s broadband coverage maps. The Improving Broadband Mapping Accuracy Act requires the FCC to launch a rulemaking, which includes collecting and vetting public comment, on whether to use consumer-reporte...
Verizon to launch mobile 5G in Chicago and Minneapolis on April 11
Verizon will launch its first mobile 5G service in select areas of Chicago and Minneapolis on April 11. Customers will be able to access the network with the Motorola moto z3 smartphone paired with the Motorola 5G moto mod to create a 5G-enabled phone. The 5G service in Chicago an...
Corning supports proposed state broadband act
The Corning City Council unanimously authorized a letter of support for a proposed act to overturn an FCC order that limited local jurisdictions’ authority over wireless cell phone infrastructure. HR 530, also known as the Accelerating Wireless Broadband Development by Empow...
New app could help expand broadband access in Montana
The National Association of Counties has created an app called TestIT to build a better map of broadband access. The app records the speed of upload and downloads and tracks your GPS location. No matter where you are, a tap of the app tells where you do and don’t meet minimu...
Report: Fiber-based broadband will power 59% of 1.2 billion connections by 2025
The Broadband Forum and Point Topic recently predicted that there will be 1.2 billion broadband subscribers worldwide by 2025, with fiber-based broadband playing an increasingly important role. The report further predicts that 89% of the expected 1.2 billion subscribers in 2025 wi...
Georgia Senate OKs rural broadband bill
Georgia senators voted 53-1 for a bill primarily aimed at increasing broadband deployment in rural Georgia and would allow the state’s 41 electric membership corporations (EMCs) to get into the broadband business. In a statement, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said that, "Broadband a...