The cost to deploy fiber to unserved U.S. rural areas is about $61 billion, said Jim Stegeman, president of CostQuest Associates, an economic consultancy that specializes in telecom. Among CostQuest’s credentials: the company created the cost model used to determine broadband deployment costs for the...Learn More

More than 200 companies (220) have qualified to participate in the Connect America Fund II (CAF II) auction scheduled to begin in late July, including large incumbent carriers such as Verizon, Cox, Windstream, Frontier, Cincinnati Bell and Hawaiian Telcom and dozens of rural telcos. Also...Learn More

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants to extend the Connect America mobility fund challenge process by 90 days. At issue is a map issued by the FCC that shows certain areas having LTE coverage where some say that coverage does not exist. Pai’s action came in...Learn More

The FCC this week released lists of companies that have submitted complete and partially complete applications to participate in the upcoming $2 billion Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II reverse auction to award broadband funding rejected by the nation’s largest local service providers in 20...Learn More

SpaceX has received FCC approval to offer lower-latency satellite broadband service in the U.S. SpaceX FCC approval paves the way for the company to provide broadband service in remote areas lacking equivalent terrestrial-based offerings. SpaceX, founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, is best known for rocket...Learn More

The FCC released an order adopted last week detailing plans to make an additional $540 million available to rural telecom providers to help cover the costs of deploying broadband to areas that are costly to serve and where minimum-speed broadband is not available. The FCC...Learn More

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today urged small cable companies to bid for funding in the upcoming Connect America Fund (CAF) auction, scheduled to start in July. The CAF II Auction will award as much as $2 billion over 10 years to cover some of the...Learn More

The FCC said today that it has begun accepting applications for the Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction. Interested parties will have until March 30 to submit Connect America Fund auction applications. The auction will start on July 24 and will make as much...Learn More

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

Rocket and space exploration company SpaceX could be the next satellite broadband provider if the FCC moves ahead with commission chairman Ajit Pai’s recommendation to approve the company to offer those services. SpaceX broadband would be somewhat different from existing satellite broadband offerings, in that...Learn More

The fixed wireless access market will generate nearly $20 billion in cumulative equipment revenue from base station access point (AP) and customer premise equipment (CPE) sales over the next six years, according to a fixed wireless market forecast from Mobile Experts. Annual sales of “dedicated”...Learn More

AT&T has expanded its fixed wireless Internet infrastructure in four states. AT&T fixed wireless is now available in 33 counties serving more than 37,000 locations in Alabama, 40 counties serving more than 26,000 locations in Arkansas, 46 counties serving more than 27,000 locations in Georgia...Learn More