To date, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made seven awards under its ReConnect Pilot Program, totaling $93,140,232 in broadband funding in nine states.
All in Broadband
November 2019 News Update
An update on news from November 2019.
FCC Announces Precision Agriculture Connectivity Task Force – Nominations For Working Groups Due December 3rd
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced the appointment of members to serve on the Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States. The Task Force will hold its first meeting on Monday, December 9, 2019, at 9:30am. Nominations for membership on one of the Task Force’s four working groups should be submitted to the FCC no later than December 3, 2019.
GAO Says FCC Should Make A-CAM Mandatory For All Rate-Of-Return Carriers As Part Of Antifraud Strategy
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has issued a report on its investigation of potential fraud risk in the FCC’s universal service high-cost program that supports rate-of-return carriers. Among other things, the GAO report recommends that the FCC assess the A-CAM support mechanism to determine the extent to which it produces reliable cost estimates and consider making its use mandatory all for rate-of-return carriers.
OneWeb – Low Earth Orbit, High-Speed Satellite Broadband Service
In July 2019, OneWeb reported the tests of six of its LEO satellites – download speeds of 400 Mbps with latency under 40 milliseconds, which enabled the fastest real-time video streaming in Full HD from Space. OneWeb plans to blanket the entire world with unsubsidized competitive broadband service.
Update On Broadband Funding: FCC Programs, Federal Funding, State Funding
This article contains recent news about broadband funding: FCC Universal Service Programs, Federal Funding, and State Funding.
USDA ReConnect Program Awards
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided three awards under its ReConnect Pilot Program, totaling $16,399,401 in broadband funding in three states.
November 2019 News Update
Here is an update on important news from November 2019.
State Members Of Universal Service Joint Board Recommend Changes To USF Contribution Mechanism – Assess Broadband Revenue & Move To Connections-Based Assessment On Residential Services
The state members of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service have submitted a Recommended Decision that proposes changing the existing contribution mechanism for federal universal service programs. Among other things, the state members want the FCC to assess broadband revenue and move to connections-based assessment on residential services
SpaceX Applies For Permission To Use 30,000 More Satellites For Its Starlink Network
SpaceX has applied for permission from the International Telecommunication Union to access spectrum for 30,000 satellites for its Starlink network.