FCC

Earlier this week, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai presented his colleagues with final rules to launch the new $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.  Chairman Pai says the fund would “target rural areas across the country where residents currently lack access to adequate broadband.”  The rul...

The Federal Communications Commission approved an order late last week to help better identify gaps in broadband coverage throughout rural America.  The agency will identify those gaps with a new data collection process.  The Commission had previously established a new process to gather data for broadband deployment maps.   ...

The Federal Communications Commission approved an order late last week to help better identify gaps in broadband coverage throughout rural America.  The agency will identify those gaps with a new data collection process.  The Commission had previously established a new process to gather data for broadband deployment maps.   Ho...

It’s not a luxury, but a necessity.   That was the message Ag lawmakers and witnesses told a recent Congressional hearing on rural broadband expansion.  The need to expand rural broadband service is unique is Washington D.C. as one of th...

Thanks to the capital budget approved last week, over $21 million will be available to a variety of agencies looking to make high-speed internet available in rural portions of Washington.  Over the next two years, the state’s Public Works department plans to loan $14.44 million...

Last week, the president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau told lawmakers in Washington D.C. that changes are needed to the mapping process that determines federal broadband funding.  During a Senate hearing, Mississippi farmer Mike McCormick, told the committee that FCC maps that determine broadband funding are flawed.  ...

A host of agriculture groups are applauding the Senate Commerce Committee for pushing the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act of 2018 forward in the legislative process.   The American Farm Bureau says the bill would create a task force designed to focus in on the connectivity and technology needs of modern farmers, who are too often without connectivity in the fields and on the ranches where t

The FCC and the Senate are taking specific steps to bring more broadband access into underserved rural areas.  The FCC is moving forward on plans for something called a “reverse auction” next year, which would provide nearly $2 billion over the next ten years to expand high-speed access in rural areas that don’t have a fixed broadband service.   The commissio...

On Thursday, Oregon’s Ron Wyden announced his support of bipartisan legislation he said would help build out cell service and wireless internet coverage throughout rural portions of the state.  Wyden said reliable wireless coverage is essential for rural Oregonians, benefiting health care, law enforcement, and everyday workers.  He added...

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was in Wisconsin earlier this week, and one the topics he discussed focused on advancing is the expansion of broadband service to all of rural America.  Pai said people often don’t think of agriculture and broadband service in the same sentence, but he says broadband is an integral part of agriculture.  He said ...