During a Town Hall meeting last Tuesday, 133 of the town’s 471 registered voters unanimously approved spending $400,000 for the construction of a town-owned broadband network. “We did this to make sure that we can pay the bill the day that construction begins,” said Board Chairman Howard Bronstein. The town is working with Westfield Gas and Electric, which is providing design, engineering, and project management services, to build the network. As planned, the town’s fiber-optic network will provide high-speed Internet and telephone service to every residence and business in town.
West Virginia selected for collaboration to update broadband map
On Tuesday, The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that it is collaborating with eight states to broaden and update the national broadband availability map. The states include West Virginia, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nort...
Legislature looks at ways to increase rural broadband service
Legislators are considering a surcharge on wireless calls to raise $10 million a year that utilities could use for internet projects in rural Oregon. The average cell phone user could see an increase of $4 to $8 a year. The surcharge would apply only to calls within the state and ...
Georgia House wants local utilities to provide broadband
Following legislation that won unanimous support Monday in the Georgia House, local utility cooperatives would be authorized to provide broadband in an effort to boost internet access in rural areas. Republican Rep. Penny Houston of Nashville said Monday that her proposal would re...
SpaceX seeks FCC OK for 1 million satellite broadband Earth stations
SpaceX is seeking US approval to deploy up to 1 million Earth stations to receive transmissions from its planned satellite broadband constellation. The Federal Communications Commission last year gave SpaceX permission to deploy 11,943 low-Earth orbit satellites for the planned St...
Rural Georgians hope to finally see faster Internet speeds
Georgia’s General Assembly is considering a proposal that could bring broadband service to rural areas of the state. The proposal would allow the electric cooperatives — and some telephone cooperatives — to provide broadband service. Statewide, at least 626,070 Georgians are...
Fort Collins municipal broadband will offer first service in August
The city of Fort Collins’, CO municipal broadband enterprise, Fort Collins Connexion, will connect its first customers to high-speed internet this August. While construction began in November 2018 and the Fort Collins Connexion Broadband Business Plan calls for a constructio...