President Trump has nominated Geoffrey Starks to fill the seat recently vacated by Mignon Clyburn (See related story in Quotable Section). Starks is assistant chief in the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau and has been working at the FCC since 2015. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) offered this week that he plans to schedule a […]

One new(ish) broadband office and one proposed in the news this week. In Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan appointed Kenrick Gordon (formerly of the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and frequent attendee and occasional speaker at numerous PTA events), to head up the state’s Office of Rural Broadband, which was created last year. One of the office’s […]

The status of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s broadband project came up during Wednesday’s Senate Transportation Committee hearing in response to a question from Committee Chairman Senator John Rafferty. The response, from Turnpike Commission CEO Mark Compton was that the agency is in process of completing the final Request for Proposal; hoping to send it out in […]

One Senator called it a “monumental day” as, on Wednesday, the U.S Senate voted 52-47 to overturn the FCC’s net neutrality repeal. While the House is unlikely to even address the matter, Democrats are hoping that enough voters care about it to influence their votes on Election Day. Republicans have characterized a campaign platform which […]

On Tuesday, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee unveiled its fiscal year 2019 agriculture funding bill, which includes $620 million for rural broadband funding through both loan and grant programs.  

The PA Turnpike Commission received some media coverage this week highlighting its plan to run a broadband network along its 550-mile roadway. PTC spokesmen offered that the project will cost in the range of $250-300 million, but could break even by selling space on the network. An article on the matter made specific mention of […]

The USDA has announced that it is accepting applications for the 17th year of rural broadband loans. The agency plans to make more than $100 million available through its Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program. Applicants must use funds to provide a minimum speed of 25 megabits downstream and 3 upstream, and priority […]

It’s another five years for PA PUC Chairman Gladys Brown, who was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, and sworn in during the Commission’s public meeting yesterday. Brown offered that “the Commission has many very important issues ahead”; specifically highlighting implementation of the new One Call program, increasing broadband access in unserved/underserved areas and […]

The federal government’s star witness in the AT&T-Time Warner merger case took the stand this week and threw a sizeable number before the court as to the consumer cost of the union. UC Berkeley professor and economist Carl Shapiro testified that consumers would pay $571 million more in year 2021 if the merger were allowed […]