Real estate industry, take note: today's homebuyers are looking for broadband that's delivered fast, consistently, and directly to the home. The Fiber-to-the-Home Council announced recently that a staggering 82% of broadband-using homebuyers rank direct fiber connections as the number one real estate amenity. Read More »
On June 24, Vice President Biden told the 2,000 delegates attending the CWA national convention in Washington, D.C.: "You had it exactly right - speed matters." Biden highlighted the $7 billion in broadband grants in the stimulus bill and emphasized that broadband investment is about creating good jobs for workers in the industry, in our nation, and solving the many challenges we face as a nation. Read More »
In a USA Today article, peanut farmer Jeff Roper explains how high-speed Internet would help agriculture, by increasing the efficiency of his farm's irrigation system. If Jeff had broadband access, he would save about an hour every day and increase the productivity of his farm. Thousands of rural Americans across the country have fallen victim to the digital divide. Read More »
Leaders in the education and healthcare industries have come together to form a coalition to promote broadband access in schools, libraries, and healthcare facilities. The formation of the public-private partnership Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition was announced Thursday, June 11 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, in Washington, D.C. Read More »
On June 11, Arkansas library leaders, community partners, and statewide stakeholders gathered to attend the Arkansas Opportunity Online Broadband Summit. Participants heard from Governor Mike Beebe, Senator Mark Pryor and Arkansas Speaker of the House Robbie Wills as they explored ways to increase connectivity in Arkansas' libraries. Watch speeches from the summit: Read More »
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its latest data on Internet usage by home. Only 50.8 percent of American householders have a broadband Internet connection, which makes up 82 percent of Americans with Internet in the home. The remainder connect through dial-up. These findings are consistent with the results of the Pew Internet and American life surveys. The Census Bureau data also showed that significant age, education and racial gaps still prominently exist for broadband usage in the home. Read More »
Many countries across the world have realized long before we did that access to high speed Internet offers significant social and economic advantages, and puts those without it at a severe disadvantage. A South Korean company is using the Internet to deliver videos that helps students prepare for college entrance exams. In the United Kingdom, the government has committed to raising every household's Internet speed to over 2 Mbps by 2012. Read More »
Even after passing a stimulus package that invests billions in broadband, President Obama's administration reaffirmed its commitment to expanding high speed Internet access across America. Susan Crawford, Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy recently declared that the United States is "definitely behind" our competitors in broadband adoption and deployment. She continued on to say, "the president cares deeply about broadband." Read More »
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report on rural broadband strategy acknowledges that we do not have the data to determine precisely our rural broadband gaps. The state of Virginia is one of a dozen states proactively to tackle this challenge with comprehensive mapping. Governor Kaine released the state's first broadband availability map, which displays the accessibility of high-speed Internet access in an easy to comprehend manner. The FCC's report continues on to urge better communication among federal agencies, states and other groups with an interest in broadband deployment and adoption. Read More »
In comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Communications Workers of America (CWA) commended the FCC for moving forward promptly to develop a national broadband plan. CWA recommends that the Commission hold a series of public hearings to solicit guidance for the plan, set specific benchmarks to increase broadband speeds to the home, establish tax incentives to encourage broadband build out and upgrades, and safeguard consumers and create quality jobs. Read More »
