Community Broadband Media Roundup - December 9

Alabama

USDA invests $62.3 million in rural broadband infrastructure for Alabama families by Jacqueline Susmann, USDA

Alaska

USDA ReConnect program grants almost $19 million for Alaska broadband by Carl Weinschenk, telecompetitor. 

“The New Internet Communications for Everyone in Yakutat (NICEY) FTTH network will target all 662 year-round residents and businesses in the community. The network will be connected via a 230-mile Cordova Telecom microwave middle-mile network to the community of Cordova. There, the network will connect to the provider’s submarine fiber.”

Yakutat to hop aboard the broadband wagon by Ari Snider, KCAW

Kentucky 

The one-traffic-light town with some of the fastest Internet in the U.S. by Sue Halpern, The New Yorker 

Lakeland

Lakeland has 2 deals with possible broadband partners by Sara-Megan Walsh, The Ledger

Ohio

Internet access for rural Ohio by U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, The Highland County Press

Medina fiber secures funding for phase 1 of its build out by BBC Wires, Broadband Communities 

Virginia 

City lowers public benefit expectations for municipal fiber plans by Vernon Miles, ALXnow

General

Too big to be left unnoticed: America’s uncompetitive broadband market, Benton Institute 

“The FCC’s most recent figures show that at a typical speed of 100 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload, about 11% of American households have no access (that’s the deployment problem); about 35% are in a monopoly market with only one provider and about the same percentage, 37% are in a duopoly, where there are only two providers. In other words, over 70% have either no choice or only one choice.”

FCC’s $9 billion rural 5G fund insufficient; hides poor state of broadband deployment by David Vance, Common Cause

FCC announces $9 billion fund for rural 5G deployment by Jason Plautz, Smart Cities Dive

5G on the horizon: here’s what it is and what’s coming by Rob Pegoraro, Ars Technica

5G could change the world. 5G is also marketing hype by Andy Uhler, Marketplace