The Federal Communications Commission announced appointments to its Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force that will work on strategies to advance broadband communications deployment on agricultural land and promote precision agriculture. […]

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) made its first investment under its ReConnect pilot program to support broadband availability, offering $2.85 million to a local service provider in Tennessee, the department announced October 18. […]

Two bills introduced in the House aim to improve the accuracy of the oft-maligned Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadband availability map by changing reporting requirements and allowing community groups access to funds to do their own reporting. […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking comment on a report, order, and further notice of proposed rulemaking dealing with the accuracy and usefulness of its Digital Opportunity Data Collection (DODC) that aims to more accurately determine residential and small business locations in the U.S. that do not have access to broadband services. […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 1 voted to approve reports, orders, and notices of propose rulemaking that taken together aim to improve mapping the availability of “fixed” broadband service – the type generally provided by cable and phone companies – in the U.S. […]

The FCC on August 1 voted to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on a range of proposals that would establish a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund funded with up to $20.4 billion to subsidize the further buildout of broadband services to rural areas of the U.S.  that don’t have widely available high-speed broadband service. […]

Microsoft hit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with a filing last week claiming that the Commission has overstated actual broadband availability in the United States and should do better to address coverage gaps. […]

There are two fairly obvious ways–plus another great big one that is more philosophical in nature–to look at the announcement late Tuesday from the Federal Communications Commission that the agency’s chairman, Ajit Pai, is circulating to his fellow commissioners a draft report to Congress finding that the digital divide in America narrowed “substantially” during 2017, and that rollout of broadband service in the U.S. is happening in a “reasonable and timely” way. […]

The bill expected to be approved by the House and Senate today to fully fund Federal government agencies through Sept. 30 provides $550 million for the Agriculture Department’s rural broadband loan and grant pilot program, which supports the creation of broadband infrastructure in rural parts of the U.S., according to a Democratic party summary of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. […]

NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, a broadband industry group that represents more than 800 independent and community-based telecommunications companies in rural and small-town America, announced Friday that it elected new board members at its fall board meeting. […]

In a report released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could do more to expand broadband access on tribal lands. The GAO offered three recommendations to the FCC, which the agency agreed with. […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today launched a new webpage highlighting the importance of rural e-connectivity, as well as ways USDA is helping to deploy high-speed broadband infrastructure in rural America. […]

The Federal Communications Commission said this week it is seeking public comment through Sept. 10 on its annual report to determine whether “advanced telecommunications capability”–typically referred to as broadband service–is being deployed “to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.”  […]

The Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet took a deep dive look at the future of broadband in the United States during a hearing on Tuesday. “To make next-generation broadband a reality and position the United States so it can win the global race to 5G, we should modernize outdated rules that delay and add unnecessary costs to broadband infrastructure deployment,” said subcommittee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. […]

The innovations of the Internet of Things can only improve health care in rural America once there is complete broadband access and adoption. “The benefits of telehealth are not available to patients without access to high-speed Internet across America. As technology and health care services expand to meet patients where they live, broadband coverage must improve to make this care accessible,” Michael Adcock, executive director of the Telehealth Center University of Mississippi Medical Center, told the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. […]

TechNet, a network of innovation economy CEOs, recently sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission advocating for increased investment in broadband connectivity. The letter emphasizes the importance of broadband for the success of commercial industries such as businesses, hospitals, libraries, and educational institutions. […]

As of June 28, the First Responder Network Authority team has met with 24 states to discuss the nationwide high-speed data network for first responders that the agency plans deploy over a 25-year contract with AT&T. […]

The Federal Communications Commission announced June 8 that it made updates to its Connect2Health Mapping Tool, which shows areas of the United States that lack broadband connectivity and health care resources. The changes include adding the most recent data on broadband and health care access to the map from the FCC and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings. […]

The First Responder Network Authority announced March 30 that it has selected AT&T to build and manage the nation’s first broadband network dedicated solely to first responder groups. […]