-
Lifting the Veil on FW and HFW with The Carmel Group’s Jimmy Schaeffler
Fixed wireless is clearly one way to provide broadband and it has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Quantifying its impact and understanding the role of fiber in helping to create ubiquitous and reliable broadband is what a new report from The Carmel Group (scroll down to download the report) does. In the…
-
Fiber as a Condo Association & Other Creative Ways to Enable Broadband
Roughly 27% of the U.S. population lives in some sort of homeowner, condo association, or housing cooperative, according to research from the Foundation for Community Association Research. These associations are fundamentally about managing the ownership of shared property and associated assets. As seen in the above interview, Isfandiyar (Asfi) Shaheen believes a similar customer-ownership model…
-
Bigger, Better Broadband in Bemidji & Beyond
A number 8 ranking by PCMag as one of the best places for remote work in 2021 should be no surprise to those familiar with the Bemidji, MN region. Its member-owned, broadband provider, Paul Bunyan Communications,, was one of the first U.S. operators to deploy fiber to the home (FTTH). By 2014 all of its…
-
Emergency Broadband Benefit Program – One Time or The Foundation for Something More Permanent?
As part of its $900B, December 2020 stimulus package, Congress allocated $3.2 Billion for the FCC to administer an Emergency Broadband Benefit Fund [Note: the original title has been updated to Emergency Broadband Benefit Program instead of Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund] to help connect those who are struggling financially. Some of the things that make…
-
Opportunity Fund or Off Track? A ViodiTV Conversation with NTCA’s Mike Romano about RDOF
On December 7th, 2020, the FCC released the names of the winners of its Phase 1, reverse auction, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Two days later, Free Press and ViodiTV’s sister publication, the Viodi View, both reported that significant sums of RDOF support appear headed towards urban locations, potentially siphoning off funding from the target,…
-
Rising Above Political Divisions – TIS20 Wrap-up with Matt Polka
“Hopefully, we can rise above political divisions and focus on better mapping, better identification of who needs broadband, and how we can work together to make sure they get it,” states Matt Polka. Polka, president and CEO of ACA Connects, is referring to a comment made at last week’s 2020 Independent Show (TIS20) by political…
