Yesterday the MN House Ways and Means committee met to talk about a broad range of topics in an effort to condense items for swift passing. The topic that might be of interest to readers, was the A9 Amendment, where the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) asked for more FTEs for the Office of Broadband Development at $1.376 million. The amendment was approved. Here’s more info from the House Journal... From the budget… $1,736,000 the second year is for implementation of the broadband provisions in article 10. And more info on article 10… ARTICLE 10 BROADBAND AND P ..read more

The FCC reports on the status of broadband access… Access to affordable, reliable broadband is essential to full participation in modern life. Consumers rely on both their fixed and mobile connections to work, learn, access health care, and connect with each other. Today, we issue this Report pursuant to our obligation under section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, concluding our inquiry into whether “advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.”1 We find that more work remains to ensure that all Americans have access ..read more

From the FCC... The Federal Communications Commission today voted to restore a national standard to ensure the internet is fast, open, and fair.  Today’s decision to reclassify broadband service as a Title II telecommunications service allows the FCC to protect consumers, defend national security, and advance public safety. Through its actions today, the Commission creates a national standard by which it can ensure that broadband internet service is treated as an essential service.  Today’s vote also makes clear that the Commission will exercise its authority over broadband in a nar ..read more

Fun news from Paul Bunyan Communications... An estimated crowd of nearly 4,000 attended the GigaZone Gaming Championship & TechXpo on Saturday, April 20 at the Sanford Center. The event featured free gaming, numerous gaming tournaments, over 25 technology exhibitors, door prizes, and special guest Danielle Feinberg from Pixar Animation Studios. This one-of-a-kind regional gaming event showcases Paul Bunyan Communications’ IT and web development team which custom built and integrated much of the online technology and leverages the speed of the GigaZone one of the largest rural all-fiber op ..read more

The MN Senate General Orders for April 25, 2024 reports… S.SF. No. 4942: (SENATE AUTHORS: FRENTZ; Companion to H.F. No. 4975) A bill for an act relating to state government; authorizing supplemental agriculture appropriations; providing broadband appropriation transfer authority; making policy and technical changes to agriculture provisions; establishing and modifying agriculture programs; requiring an application for federal broadband aid; modifying appropriations to the Office of Cannabis Management and the Department of Health; modifying fees assessed by the Department of Commerc ..read more

The Journal of the House (April 24, 2024) updates two items related to broadband. I have tried to pull out the pertinent information from the Reports of Standing Committees and Divisions. At the very highest level the first item would give DEED and the Office of Broadband Development more authority for spending the money available for broadband grants. The second would give unserved areas priority over underserved areas looking for broadband grants. It reserves a percent of funds for projects that agree to implement the workforce best practices, which includes prevailing wage and 80 hour ..read more

The Conversation is a nonprofit that strives to Inform public debate with knowledge-based journalism that is responsible, ethical and supported by evidence. They recently posted an article on why… Millions of Americans still don’t have access to high-speed internet. Christopher Ali, a professor of telecommunications at Penn State University, discusses who lacks access to broadband and how the federal government – with a US$65 billion commitment – is trying to bring more people online. Minnesota got a nice shout-out… What states have done a particularly good job expanding ..read more

The Worthington Globe reports on the Lismore Coop’s MN broadband grant application and Nobles County’s support. It’s an interesting glimpse at all of the moving pieces involved in the application… The Nobles County Board of Commissioners agreed to financially support Lismore Cooperative Telephone Company’s “Fiber to Home” broadband project and include the community of Bigelow in the project. The project aims to expand broadband access throughout the county. Project director Chris Koneche of Finley Engineering said the project has seen its share of progress in recent months. “We really appreci ..read more

From the Office of Broadband Development… The Office of Broadband Development announced the second round of Line Extension Connection Program awards on a rolling basis beginning March 29, 2024, and ending April 22, 2024. This second round of the program awarded $3,584,040.13 to expand wired broadband delivering at least 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload, to 482 locations across 25 counties. Internet providers carrying out the projects matched $1,490,990.67 for a total investment of $5,075,030.80. Provider Locations Grant Amount Access Networks 15 $153,225.00 Arvig Tekstar 69 $543 ..read more

Roberto Gallardo and Brian Whitacre haver released a new research report: An unexpected digital divide? A look at internet speeds and socioeconomic groups. It tracks broadband adoption across most of the US based on speeds and compares to census data. Most of their findings are similar to what we’ve been tracking for the last 20+ years, but there was once surprise… This study attempted to see if existing disparities among demographic groups in terms of home broadband adoption remained when examining performance or internet quality – measured by average download and upload speed tests from Ook ..read more