Indiana Announces $22 Million In Broadband Grants

August 8, 2019 – Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb has announced $22.1 million in funding for 11 broadband expansion infrastructure projects. The funding is part of the initial round of Indiana’s Next Level Broadband program. The seven grant recipients – six telecommunications providers and one utility cooperative – will  contribute $14 million in matching funds, resulting in $36.1 million total investment for broadband. According to the press release, the funding will provide broadband infrastructure to more than 4,800 homes and commercial locations in 12 counties.

**********

Arkansas Creates $25 Million Broadband Grant Program

August 6, 2019 – Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has announced the creation of “Arkansas Rural Connect,” a new $25 million broadband grant program. The program will attempt to meet the goal of deploying high-speed broadband Internet access service – at a rate of 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream – to all Arkansas communities with more than 500 residents by 2022. This goal was outlined in Arkansas’ State Broadband Plan, which was released in May 2019. The new broadband grant program will be housed within the Arkansas State Broadband Office. Further details and the rules for the Arkansas Rural Connect grant program will be developed in the near future. According to the press release, the program is expected to prioritize applications that partner with ISPs to deploy broadband at 25/3 Mbps speeds to all residents of a community; share project costs and provide facilitation for the project by procuring rights-of-way for wireline deployments; seek to serve communities that have a population of at least 500 with less than 50 percent of the population covered by broadband speeds of 25/3 Mbps; and that provide service that does not constrain normal Internet use.

**********

Live Free Or Die With 5G: New Hampshire Establishes Committee To Examine Environmental & Health Effects of 5G Wireless Technology

August 1, 2019 – The state of New Hampshire has enacted a law (HB 522) establishing a commission to study the environmental and health effects of evolving 5G technology, including the use of earlier generation wireless communications technologies. The law directs the commission to compile its study based on testimony from the scientific community, the medical community, the wireless technology industry, and other organizations and members of the public with an interest in 5G technology. The commission will consider, among other things, the following issues:

• Why the insurance industry recognizes wireless radiation as a leading risk and has placed exclusions in their policies not covering damages caused by the pathological properties of electromagnetic radiation?

• Why do cell phone manufacturers have in the legal section within the devise saying keep the phone at least 5mm from the body?

• Why have 1,000s of peer-reviewed studies, including the recently published U.S. Toxicology Program 16-year $30 million study, that are showing a wide-range of statistically significant DNA damage, brain and heart tumors, infertility, and so many other ailments, being ignored by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC)?

• Why are the FCC radiofrequency exposure limits set for the United States 100 times higher than countries like Russia, China, Italy, Switzerland, and most of Eastern Europe?

• Why have the cumulative biological damaging effects of ever-growing numbers of pulse signals riding on the back of the electromagnetic sine waves not been explored, especially as the world embraces the Internet of Things, meaning all devices being connected by electromagnetic waves, and the exploration of the number of such pulse signals that will be created by implementation of 5G technology?

New Hampshire’s new 5G committee will prepare and publish an interim report on or before November 1, 2019, and a final report of its findings and recommendations by November 1, 2020. The reports will outline the advantages of, and risks associated with, 5G technology; develop a strategy, if deemed necessary, to limit RF radiation exposure from 5G or lesser generation technology; include a public policy statement on 5G wireless systems, which either declares the technology safe or outlines actions required to protect the health of its citizens and environment; consider alternatives to 5G technology that will accelerate information flow speeds and volumes without the use of electromagnetic waves that emit high levels of radiation; and provide any recommendations for proposed legislation developed by the commission.

**********

Now Accepting Applications: $20 Million Connecting Michigan Communities Grant Program

July 2, 2019 – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced the opening of applications for the Connecting Michigan Communities (CMIC) grant program to increase broadband in underserved areas of Michigan. The application window runs from July 1 through August 30. Grant awards are scheduled to be announced in April of 2020, and all awarded projects must be completed by September 30, 2023. Funding priority will be given to applications that demonstrate collaboration to achieve community investment and economic development goals. Applicants must also show they have the managerial, financial, and technical abilities to build, operate, and manage a broadband network. Applicants can apply for up to $5 million per grant and can apply for multiple projects. The scoring criteria includes, among other things, community and economic development, readiness to build, operate, and maintain the project, and the long-term viability of the project. The grant application and additional information are available online at the CMIC grant program website.

**********

Idaho Governor Issues Executive Order Creating Broadband Task Force

June 1, 2019 – Idaho Governor Brad Little has issued an executive order establishing the Idaho Broadband Task Force to improve broadband infrastructure and connectivity in Idaho. Members of the task force will include state legislators; the directors of the Idaho Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture, Office of Emergency Management, and Office of Information Technology Services; representatives of Idaho cities and counties; a representative of Idaho Tribes; and individuals representing broadband providers. The Idaho Broadband Task Force’s mission is to make recommendations to the Governor on policies and actions the state of Idaho should take to dramatically improve broadband connectivity and service levels. The group will also focus on mapping Idaho’s existing broadband infrastructure and services and identifying gaps. The task force is expected to provide a report to the Governor in November.

**********

Texas Creates Governor’s Broadband Development Council

June 1, 2019 – The state of Texas has enacted legislation creating the Governor’s Broadband Development Council. The 17-member council is tasked with researching and developing solutions to address the following broadband-related issues: 

• broadband development in unserved areas

• barriers to residential and commercial broadband deployment in unserved areas

• solution to overcome barriers to broadband deployment

• how broadband can benefit economic development, education, emergency services, and health care

The Governor’s Broadband Development Council is required to annually report its findings and recommendations to the governor, lieutenant governor, and each member of the Texas legislature.

**********

Arkansas Governor Releases State Broadband Plan

May 15, 2019 – Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has released the Arkansas State Broadband Plan, which sets a goal to deploy high-speed broadband Internet access service – at a rate of 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream – to all Arkansas communities with more than 500 residents by the year 2022. Governor Hutchinson directed the Arkansas Development Finance Authority Economic Policy Division to develop a state broadband plan in March 2019. Private and public sector stakeholders assisted in preparing the plan. Among other things, the information in the state broadband plan is expected to help telecommunications companies, rural electric cooperatives, utilities, and internet service providers when applying for federal grants to expand broadband infrastructure and connectivity in rural Arkansas. The Arkansas State Broadband Plan contains the following 13 sections:

• Section I: Details about how Arkansas can meet the Governor’s broadband goal.

• Section II: The competitive landscape for broadband services in Arkansas.

• Section III: Describes federal government programs that have been instrumental in deploying broadband to rural Arkansas.

• Section IV: Lays out plans for a State Broadband Office.

• Section V: Discusses the Arkansas High Cost Fund, which helps bring broadband to rural Arkansas.

• Section VI: Describes existing state and federal communications assets in Arkansas.

• Section VII: Covers the use of broadband in education.

• Section VIII: Covers the use of broadband in agriculture.

• Section IX: Covers the use of broadband in health care.

• Section X: Broadband mapping.

• Section XI: Access rights for broadband deployment (utility poles, towers and other key connection points).

• Section XII: Explores policy options suggested by the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee.

• Section XIII: Explains recent broadband-related state legislation.

**********

Maryland Passes Legislation Allowing Electric Cooperatives to Provide Broadband Service

May 1, 2019 – The Maryland legislature has passed Senate Bill 634, authorizing electric cooperatives to provide broadband Internet access service. The legislation was recommended in a January 2019 report by the Maryland Task Force on Rural Internet, Broadband, Wireless and Cellular Service. Specifically, the bill authorizes Maryland electric cooperatives to “construct, maintain, or operate or allow others to construct, maintain, or operate conducting or communications facilities that furnish telecommunications, broadband internet access, or related services along, on, under, or across: real property, personal property, rights-of-way, and easements owned, held, or otherwise used by the cooperative; and publicly owned lands, roadways, and public ways, with the prior consent of the governing body of the municipal corporation or county in which the facilities are proposed to be constructed and under any reasonable regulations and conditions imposed by the governing body of the municipal corporation or county.” Additionally, to ensure that electric service customers do not subsidize the cost of broadband services, Senate Bill 634 requires electric cooperatives to allocate all costs between electricity-related services and broadband services. The legislation becomes effective on October 1, 2019. 

**********

Vermont Awards Broadband Connectivity Initiative Grants

May 1, 2019 – The Vermont Public Service Department has announced it has awarded nearly $220,00 in grant awards to Internet service providers to boost broadband Internet speeds to more than 220 eligible locations in twelve rural Vermont communities.

• ECFiber was awarded $63,250 to bring fiber optic cable service to 49 homes and businesses in the towns of Tunbridge and Corinth.

• Consolidated Communications, Inc. received $44,498 to expand broadband to 37 homes and businesses in Barnet.

• Pear Networks and Kingdom Fiber received a grant of $85,000 to bring fiber optic cable service to 126 homes and businesses in Bloomfield, Brighton, Brunswick, Canaan, Ferdinand, Lemington, and Maidstone.

• MCFiber received $21,200 to extend fiber optic cable service to six locations in Underhill.

• Southern Vermont Cable received $5,636 to provide cable internet to 11 homes in Putney.

According to the press release, the projects receiving awards were selected from a competitive pool of twenty projects which requested grant funds totaling over $960,000. Projects with the lowest cost per location were selected. The funds will be used to extend broadband to 229 homes and businesses that were previously unserved or underserved.

**********

Arkansas Legislature Approves Bill Allowing Cities To Provide Broadband Service

February 20, 2019 – The Arkansas state House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to allow government entities to provide broadband Internet access service on their own or in cooperation with a private company. The bill, which amends the Telecommunications Regulatory Reform Act of 2013, was previously approved unanimously in the Arkansas Senate. It now heads to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who is expected to sign the bill into law.

**********

NTIA Will Work With 8 States To Improve Broadband Map

February 12, 2019 – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced it is working with eight states – California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia – to update the national broadband availability map. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 allocated $7.5 million to NTIA to update the national broadband availability map in coordination with the FCC and using existing state partnerships. The initial eight states were chosen because they reflect geographic diversity, have active state broadband plans or programs, and were willing to contribute data that can be combined with nationwide data sources. According to its press release, NTIA expects to seek future participation from additional states, territories and federally recognized tribes that have broadband programs or related data-collection efforts.

**********

Mississippi Passes Law Allowing Electric Cooperatives To Provide Broadband

January 30, 2019 – The Mississippi legislature has passed a law allowing electric cooperatives to provide broadband Internet access service. The new law – the Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act – overturns a 75 year old law restricting member-owned electric companies from offering anything but electric service. Every electric cooperative in Mississippi is now authorized to establish one or more broadband affiliates that may construct, maintain, lease, and operate a broadband system on the electric cooperative’s electric delivery system and provide broadband services to the public. With passage of the law, Mississippi’s two dozen electric cooperatives will be able to apply for federal grants and loans available for rural broadband projects such as those offered under USDA’s ReConnect Program.

**********

Nebraska Public Service Commission Investigating CenturyLink Outage

January 15, 2019 – The Nebraska Public Service Commission has opened an investigation into the nationwide outage experienced by CenturyLink on December 27th. The outage, which prevented consumers across the country from reaching 911 emergency services, disrupted 911 service in Nebraska. By opening an investigation, the Nebraska PSC intends to “develop further information on the impact of the outage in Nebraska,” in order to prevent such outages in the future and better respond outages that do occur. The Nebraska PSC also believes the investigation may help inform decisions on the best ways to implement next generation 911 networks in the state. In December 2018, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced that the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau had launched an investigation into the nationwide outage experienced by CenturyLink.

**********

Minnesota Department of Commerce Finds Frontier Violated At Least 35 Minnesota Laws And Utility Commission Rules

January 4, 2019 – The Minnesota Department of Commerce has issued a report on its investigation of Frontier Communications’ service quality, customer service, and billing practices. The investigation was requested by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission  in April 2018. After reviewing approximately one thousand customer complaints, the Minnesota Department of Commerce concluded “it appears that Frontier has been violating at least 35 separate laws and rules that the [Public Utilities] Commission has clear authority to enforce through this regulatory proceeding.” In the conclusion of the report, the Minnesota Department of Commerce notes that, among other things, the Public Utilities Commission has the authority to revoke or temporarily suspend Frontier’s ability to provide service, but these are not viable options because Minnesotans would be left without a service provider.