Congratulations to York Republican Representative Kristin Phillips-Hill who was recently named to the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee. The group is designed to provide the Commission advice on telecommunications issues and, as a Co-Chairwoman (With Representative Pam Snyder), of the PA House Broadband Caucus, is uniquely qualified to do just that.  

Number 2….for now. Market research firm IDC announced this week that Huawei has leapt over Apple to become the world’s second largest smartphone provider (behind Samsung) even though the company is not a player in the U.S. IDC analyst Ryan Reith said that the lofty position may not hold for the Chinese company since Apple […]

The FCC recently announced that it is releasing an additional $36 million annually for 175 small rural carriers throughout the country, partially compensating for the initial program shortfall which was estimated at $110 million annually. The additional funding was calculated on supporting all locations with costs above $52.50, up to a per-location cap of $146.10. […]

Google announced this week that it is constructing an undersea cable network between the U.S. and France which should be operational by 2020. The company entered the undersea market on its own with its Los Angeles to Chile cable which is set to be up and running next year. (See other Google news in the […]

It’s the third week of June and all is eerily quiet on the state budget front. Driving the lack of headlines is a budget devoid of any major tax increases or anything else of controversy, and good revenue news from Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office. On Monday, the IFO released its official revenue estimate of $33.9 […]

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 […]