The Federal Communications Commission has provisionally chosen nearly 40 entities to receive funding in the commission’s rural broadband experiment initiative. Among those chosen are 14 wireless ISPs, seven local telephone companies, four power companies and two cable companies. Other winners include competitive carriers that use...Learn More

A new partnership between the Wireless Internet Service Providers’ Association and the Gigabit Libraries Network aims to facilitate the deployment of TV white spaces (TVWS) broadband in libraries nationwide. “The WISP needs experience with TVWS and libraries offer an ideal demo site in their local...Learn More

Fixed broadband wireless provider Omnicity should gain a new lease on life, now that a new management team has purchased the bankrupt company. Broadband Networks, a company formed solely to purchase Omnicity, said this week that it will continue to operate the company, which serves...Learn More

A statewide network under construction in Ohio aims to make broadband available to more than three million locations, including 100,000 homes that cannot currently get broadband – without relying on any funding from the broadband stimulus program or the Universal Service fund. “It’s all funded...Learn More

Wireless internet service providers (WISPs) have never been coy regarding their opinion of the universal service fund (USF) and its impact on their business. Many WISPs feel the USF unfairly rewards incumbent providers with subsidies and undermines their ability to compete. The latest iteration of...Learn More

Some broadband wireless Internet service providers are gearing up to deploy point-to-multipoint service in TV white spaces spectrum, despite regulatory uncertainty about the long-term plan for the spectrum. “The FCC declared it as unlicensed for the time being and equipment manufacturers should ship the first...Learn More

In somewhat of an ironic twist, Heritage Global Partners and Counsel RB Capital will be using the Internet to auction off assets of Open Range Communications, a recently failed broadband wireless Internet and VoIP services provider . A global auction will be webcast on Wednesday...Learn More

The Open Range saga continues and it looks like a bankruptcy liquidation is the final act for this rural wireless broadband provider. As we’ve been covering since the beginning, Open Range was a new breed of rural broadband provider who planned to use WiMAX (and...Learn More

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce has requested a bi-partisan briefing with the Rural Utilities Service in connection with the $267 million broadband loan made to Open Range Communications in 2008. Open Range Communications, which was in the process of building a...Learn More

A little-known broadband wireless provider based in Minnesota has offered $2 million for the assets of bankrupt service provider Open Range Communications, the Denver Post is reporting. The bidder, tothehome.com, was formed in 2006 and offers service in the rural community of Shakopee, Minn. Open...Learn More

Numerous reports indicate that rural WiMAX operator Open Range is in serious trouble. The company has apparently told most employees they will be laid off and they are potentially looking for a buyer. Colorado based Open Range operates a WiMAX-based broadband wireless network that had...Learn More

The nation’s largest wireless carriers—including Verizon, Sprint and AT&T–have grabbed most of the headlines involving 4G deployments, but that’s beginning to change. Two rural carriers—Michigan-based SpeedConnect and Kansas-based United Wireless–announced yesterday that they will be deploying rural 4G networks using SingleRAN equipment from Huawei. SpeedConnect...Learn More