The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced its second round of grant awards for broadband mapping programs in Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. Read More »
The proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal raises real anti-trust concerns. If approved by regulators, this deal would create a mega-media company, one with the market power to determine what programs get aired and how much consumers must pay to view programming in every media outlet: cable, television and especially the Internet. This mega-company would control one out of every five viewing hours in the United States. Read More »
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced $3.4 million in grants to improve Internet connections of public libraries in Kansas, Arkansas, New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts. Through the Opportunity Online program, the Foundation will partner with fourteen additional states to help libraries compete for broadband stimulus funds. Read More »
The Communications Workers Union (CWU), the British telecom workers' union, is pushing to make the British national broadband plan more ambitious. The mobilization campaign, similar to Speed Matters, is directed at members of Parliament and other policy makers as the UK further develops its national broadband goals. Read More »
Competitive high speed internet access is on the rise in rural communities according to a National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) survey. Read More »
As in the civilian world, the military is using broadband to improve access to and the quality of education and healthcare. During remarks at Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, FCC Chairman Julian Genachowski discussed the ways that servicemen and women are benefiting from broadband and how that applies to the upcoming National Broadband Plan. Read More »
A new report on broadband investments estimates telecom industry capital investment at $69 billion in 2008 and $60 billion in 2009. About half that amount -- about $30 billion annually -- was spent on broadband infrastructure. Read More »
The FCC task force charged with developing the National Broadband plan released an interim report stating that there are “critical gaps” that must be filled before American individuals and businesses can fully benefit from broadband technology. The report identifies significant gaps in the federal Universal Service Fund, which doesn’t support broadband adoption and deployment despite over $7 billion spent to subsidize telecommunications annually. Rep. Doris Matsui (CA-5) recently introduced the Broadband Affordability Act – endorsed by CWA – which would address many of these problems. Read More »
The Alliance for Public Technology (APT) - a Speed Matters partner - has re-launched as the National Broadband Resource Center (NBRC). The new organization will focus on spurring broadband adoption and innovation. Read More »
With Internet speeds and access in most of the developed world leaving the United States in the dust, America's low-income and minority households are particularly at risk of being left behind in the digital world, CWA President Larry Cohen told the Minority Broadband Summit in a keynote speech Wednesday. Read More »
