#broadband-grants

#broadband-grants

The firm's study, 'North American Fiber Broadband Report: FTTH Review and Forecast 2026-2030,' indicates that nearly $200 billion will be spent on fiber over the next five years, highlighting a significant investment in fiber-to-the-home services.

"Lehigh Valley residents deserve internet that works as hard as they do. We're not just expanding our network—we're giving customers a superior choice. By signing up now, residents can secure early access to faster speeds, better reliability, and a customer experience built for them."

The goal of the new USTelecom program is to show consumers, businesses, civic leaders, and policymakers why maintaining legacy copper for the small portion of end users is not an efficient approach. A key part of this is explaining why modern technology is better.

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved $3.29 million in grants from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) Broadband Adoption Account that will support 18 digital literacy training projects and three broadband projects across the state. The 21 projects will provide services to about 16,145 Californians.

Eight of the municipal networks studied beat their local provider competitors in median upload speed. Sherwood Broadband - in the town of the same name in Oregon - was the only one to beat its local competitor in median download speed.

"Public Wi-Fi is essential for providing accessibility and convenience in communities across New Mexico," OBAE State Grants Senior Program Manager Neala Krueger said in a press release about the grants. "It provides communications in emergencies, helps travelers and remote workers, and enables New Mexicans to access the internet in public locations. This Wi-Fi access will help close the state's digital divide." The New Mexico Wi-Fi grants include: Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell: $2,162,229 SWC Telesolutions, Inc.: $2,040,951 City of Las Cruces: $1,427,361 Dona Ana County: $515,912 Luna County: $328,767 City of Raton: $250,000

Wholesale access has been inherently supported by the Broadband Forum's network architecture over the past 20 years, and this project takes the best practices from copper‑based broadband to reshape and evolve them for fiber and cloud networks.

Stefanovic found that Starlink carried data more quickly than connections that started on European cellular networks, despite the space broadband service often requiring more network hops and not using Tier 1 networks. She hypothesized that Starlink's performance can be attributed to the satellite-to-satellite laser connections SpaceX employs, which route traffic across the satellite network so it can reach the most appropriate terrestrial egress point. That laser network, she suggested, should perhaps be considered a new routing layer for the internet.

The study showed that annual investments in public safety LTE/5G infrastructure and devices reached $5bn in 2025, driven by both new projects and the expansion of existing dedicated, hybrid government-commercial, and secure mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)/multi-operator core network (MOCN) networks. The report observed that a myriad of fully dedicated, hybrid government-commercial and secure MVNO/MOCN-based public safety LTE and 5G networks are operational or in the process of being rolled out throughout the globe.

FCC OIS detected similar fraud in the system in a 2017 report, which resulted in the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the Lifeline program administrator, beginning a "death check" as part of the enrollment process. However, the FCC allowed three states (California, Texas, and Oregon) to opt out of the death check process. The most recent OIG report specifies that the $5 million in fraud was all in the opt-out state

New Mexico's Low-Income Telecommunications Assistance Program (LITAP) took a key step toward becoming law Friday with its unanimous passage by the state senate. Senate Bill 152 would provide $10 million in funding to help as many as 27,000 low-income residents in need in New Mexico get broadband. The funding will come from the Public Regulation Commission's State Rural Universal Service Fund. That fund has $40 million earmarked for broadband funding.

The program is free of charge, with monthly classes and workshops administered by the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) and paid for by the U.S. Congress. Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI) will provide lab equipment, workbooks, tools, and all teaching equipment. The funding for the three-year broadband workforce program comes from a $1.99 million federal grant New Mexico received from the 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act. Last year, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham asked state agencies in 2024 to address the critical need for infrastructure development in the state, including telecommunications.

Spectrum below 1 GHz could significantly boost 4G and 5G coverage in rural areas, according to the report from GSMA Intelligence. Rural areas depend heavily on low-band spectrum because it allows signal to travel further and penetrate better through barriers such as buildings. Rural residents spend twice as much time connected to low bands as their urban and rural counterparts.