The White House today released some additional details about President Trump’s proposal to make $50 billion available for rural infrastructure investment – and in theory, at least, as much as $40 billion of that money could go to rural broadband. Trump rural broadband plans first...Learn More

The FCC should not expand the Universal Service Fund contribution base or increase the overall USF budget, said FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly in an address at the Hudson Institute this week. “Instead of broadening the base, I want to get overall spending under control,” said...Learn More

Rural broadband was front and center today on Capitol Hill, with the House Energy and Commerce committee’s Communications and Technology subcommittee holding hearings on rural broadband and closing the digital divide. A whopping 25 legislative resolutions that address rural broadband expansion to the nation’s unserved...Learn More

The Connect America Fund auction to award funding to bring broadband to unserved areas of 20 states is officially scheduled for July 24. The FCC at today’s monthly commission meeting voted to approve plans for the competitive bidding process, known as the CAF II Auction...Learn More

The FCC’s CAF program has funded Frontier rural broadband expansion to the tune of 351K additional broadband connections across 29 states, the carrier announced today. The milestone marks Frontier reaching 45% of the eligible locations under the CAF program, which helps fund rural broadband investment...Learn More

An additional 600K homes and businesses in rural markets are connected to broadband thanks to funding from the Connect America Fund (CAF) for CenturyLink rural broadband expansion, the company announced today. The carrier committed to the FCC CAF II program in 2015, accepting $3 billion,...Learn More

Rural broadband is receiving a lot of attention from policymakers these days on both the administrative and legislative fronts. A wide range of rural broadband legislation has been introduced in the House, and the Senate Broadband Caucus has sent a letter to President Trump urging...Learn More

FCC rural broadband funding could increase by over $500 million if the commission votes to adopt an order circulated by commission chairman Ajit Pai. According to an FCC spokesman, the funding would include about $180 million for the current funding year for the nation’s smaller...Learn More

Broadband providers interested in deploying service to parts of 20 states could have until March 30 to apply to participate in a reverse auction that will award funding for those deployments. The proposed deadline is included in a 100-page public notice that the FCC is...Learn More

President Donald Trump’s address about economic issues facing rural America at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention yesterday touched on Trump rural broadband initiatives. But although Trump talked about the importance of broadband to the rural economy and signed two executive orders aimed at facilitating...Learn More

The FCC broadband speed definition could be in for a change. Several sources report that the commission could vote as soon as next month or earlier to reduce the speed required for an internet connection to be considered broadband for purposes of the FCC’s annual...Learn More

Frontier CAF broadband investments are helping the broadband carrier reach 275,000 households across California. The FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF) is directly responsible for reaching 40K homes, and indirectly responsible for many more. According to Frontier, the more than 39,000 CAF-designated locations exceeds their agreed...Learn More