Podcasts about connect america fund

5G was in the doldrums, but 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is a success story – it is growing and we predict more adoption by enterprise customers in 2024. In certain industries, particularly those with more remote or ex-suburban presences, 5G FWA tempts enterprise customers as an alternative to fixed broadband.  Investments by providers, fueled by the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program and other available funds (e.g., Connect America Fund), will make 5G FWA more available and affordable.  In 2024, we also predict the accelerated adoption of 5G and Wi-Fi 6E and 7 technologies as enterprises prioritize wireless connectivity for critical applications, leading to a hybrid wired-wireless WAN architecture. In this 10-minute podcast, Deb Boehling and David Lee join Tony Mangino to discuss how 5G FWA will become an increasingly popular option for the enterprise ICT network architecture. If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Mobility Services – In-Country, Regional, Global and Success Stories webpages. Follow us on LinkedIn: LB3 & TC2

In this episode, we speak with Carol Mattey, Principal of Mattey Consulting. We discuss a range of topics including the FCC's ongoing initiatives in annual federal spending known as the Universal Service Fund, which supports broadband connectivity for rural areas, schools, libraries, healthcare providers, and low-income consumers. We also look back at her involvement with the Connect America Fund initiative its successes and challenges. About Carol Mattey, founder of Mattey Consulting. She has over 30 years of experience as a senior executive in the U.S. government, consultant, and lawyer focusing on communications public policy. She led the development and implementation of the Connect America Fund to extend broadband to unserved areas in the United States. Carol is recognized as one of the country's leading experts on USF regulation and policy.

A Mississippi U.S. Attorney announces a new campaign against domestic violence.Then, the Public Service Commission subpoenas telecom giant AT&T over questions regarding broadband expansion in the state.Plus, how student leaders at two of Mississippi's public universities are serving as liaisons between administration and the student body in the effort to keep campus safe during a pandemic. Segment 1:Families are staying home more during the coronavirus pandemic, and officials say this has led to a rise in domestic violence. In 2019, more than 10,000 calls were made to Mississippi law enforcement to report cases of domestic violence. U.S. Attorney of Mississippi's Southern District, Mike Hurst says domestic violence continues to be an area of concern that has risen during the coronavirus pandemic. "Operation Pheonecia", which will work towards removing guns from the hands of abusers, is named after Pheonecia Ratliff of Canton, who was killed by her ex boyfriend after reporting him for domestic violence. Her mother, Suzanne Ratliff, offers advice to people facing domestic violence with our Kobee Vance.Segment 2:Major telecommunications conglomerate AT&T has agreed to provide the state of Mississippi records detailing how it used the almost $284 million it was paid by the federal government to expand internet access in the state. Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley said AT&T initially denied requests last week for records related to work it completed in the state to provide fixed wireless service access through the Connect America Fund. Earlier this week he spoke with our Desare Frazier, saying his office is charged with ensuring the work is done.Segment 3:A close eye is being turned to college campuses this fall as students are resuming in-person learning. College students usually exhibit a level of independence and freedom often not reserved for their K-12 peers, which has led to concerns from health officials over the potential for widespread community transmission of COVID-19 on university campuses. They worry the social element of college life could lead to behaviors and practices that could cause outbreaks. To combat this, university administrators are leaning on student leadership to develop and communicate safety plans. We talk to Sarah Helen Skelton of Mississippi State and Joshua Mannery of the University of Mississippi. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We spoke with experts on bringing fiber internet to rural Michigan. Bringing fiber internet to rural Michigan can reduce major barriers to educational, healthcare, and economic opportunities and benefit whole communities and families. We also speak to Dr. Edward Smith on why advocating for remote areas as a physician is so important when decisions are being made based off of what can be done in urban areas.    Transcript:  This Rural Mission is a podcast brought to you by Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. The podcast is produced with funds from the Herbert H and Grace A. Dow Foundation and the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Family Medicine Department. Welcome to Season Two. I'm your host Julia Terhune and I hope you enjoy this episode. So I was sitting with my spouse talking about jobs, and life, and he got off on a tangent, considering our connection to the internet and the current state of our rural communities in light of our current internet connection. And it struck a chord with me, and it became the impetus for this whole episode. So, I had to start recording him. The reoccurring theme that he brought up and the one that will be reinforced throughout this podcast is that access to the internet in rural America, including rural Michigan, is bad, plain and simple. It's bad. Many rural residents are currently living with limited or no access to the internet and being left behind. Sometimes when I bring up this point, I get push back, and I have people who argue that technology is a choice or a privilege. But where did you get your last bit of news from? How did you access this podcast? How did you apply for your last job? This last point was significant to my spouse because of what he does. He helps connect and mentor low income and transitioning persons to careers and jobs. And this limited access to the internet has been keeping him in business. What happens to them? They get all this information about applying for jobs, and access to jobs and they have these fantastic resumes, and they're motivated, and they have accountability through your program, but then they go home. What are they going to do? How do they, what is their experience when they go home? That everything stops, they get motivated, they get excited, they get interested, and they actually are looking for ways to apply for jobs, looking for ways to get jobs, but you can't go online and study for your driver's test. You can't go online and study for your- GRE. GRE- Well, no, GRE's graduate, but GED? GED. Yeah, and that's where a lot of people are. Yeah, you were talking about occupations, but I would take that even to just being a functional member of society. You can't engage with other thought processes. You can't engage with other opinions. You can't engage with current events without being connected to something digital in this point in human history. I don't want us to make it sound like everybody in rural communities are in the dark ages. That's not true. Because they're not, but I believe that they will be soon. That's not good enough. After the repeal of the Obama era net neutrality regulations in June of 2018, the chairman of the United States federal communications commission, or the FCC, was quoted by the Washington Post as stating, "And in the medium to long term, I think we're going to see more investment in high-speed networks, particularly in rural areas that are difficult to serve." This is our hope too. Rural America accounts for 97% of our country's total landmass. That's 2.23 billion acres of land, and 20% of our population according to the United States Department of Agriculture. But those stats actually are quite worrisome. We're talking 20% of our population spread out over 2 billion acres of land, which makes connecting them to the internet expensive, difficult, cumbersome, sometimes impossible. So because of that, it's not always a key priority for many for-profit or private internet providers. Historically, much of this expansion has been funded by the government and carried out by nonprofit agencies, meaning that historically and currently rural internet access is a federal and state concern. Since 2011, the federal government has funded the Connect America Fund, and it has worked to expand and increase internet and broadband access to millions of Americans. The FCC stated on their website the following quote, and I'm reading it, "The Connect America Fund aims to connect 7 million unserved rural Americans to broadband in 6 years and puts the nation on a path to connect all 19 million unserved rural residents by 2020." The FCC launched this unprecedented broadband expansion in 2011 when it reformed and modernized the Universal Service Fund, which connected rural America to the telephone network in the 20th century. The commission created the Connect America Fund to unleash the benefit of broadband for all Americans in the 21st century. In the first phase, about 115 million of public funding will be coupled with tens of millions more in private investment to quickly expand broadband infrastructure to rural communities in every region of the nation. Joe McCue is the manager for Fiber Assets for Great Lakes Energy. The energy co-op that supplies most of northern lower Michigan, Kalamazoo all the way to the Mackinac bridge. Great Lakes Energy has taken charge of installing, managing, and maintaining fiber connections for all nine of their service areas. They are starting with their Petosky service area and as Joe puts it, writing the book on how to connect their rural communities to fiber internet. So, how we fit into this is, we're an electric cooperative. Cooperatives were started back during the depression. The farmers didn't have electricity. It wasn't cost-effective to run electricity out to the farms. So President Roosevelt came up with the Rural Electrification Act, I think it was of 1935, and all it did is it guaranteed loans for the farmers to start cooperatives to build electric facilities, the poles, the wires, everything out to them and start electrifying the farms. And so that took hold. And that's why you have all of the electric cooperatives in America. Still to this day. Still to this day, yeah. So how does that feed into what you're doing now? We kind of look at it as like the second evolution of our purpose, I think, is what it comes to. It's like, your generation, kind of at the start of my generation, is like, if you heard nobody didn't have electricity, you'd be like, what? Everybody's got electricity. How has that even possible? We want electricity everywhere. But, we're going to be the ones that remember people not having internet. And in 20 years from now, everybody's going to have high-speed internet. So that's where we see this as we own a lot of the infrastructure needed to do it already. We have all the poles, we have the right of ways. And so, it's another wire up on the pole, shall you say. And I always tell everybody, you're never going to find a better organization than Electric Cooperative to build and maintain wire and pole infrastructure. And so prior to this, what has the infrastructure of Northern Michigan or rural Michigan looked like? Pretty much you were down to cellular communication, and then also they call it fixed wireless that you can put in, very limited due to the hills and the trees. You can't get the signals through the trees with wireless. And then you had the phone companies, you had telephone service on copper line that was out, but you could not use that for this high data traffic output that you need. You'd have to have fiber for that, and the volume, the amount you want. And then in the cities, in the towns, you had cable companies come in, and they would start putting that cable in, co-ax cable, and they're able to use that, and then give high-speed internet to their subscribers. It's very expensive for them to go build out into the country. And while what Joe is describing might seem like "enough" for rural communities, it's a very different story when it comes to actually working and functioning within the current infrastructure. The problem is, is a lot of times what everybody gauges is good and acceptable. And I always equate it to, if you had a bicycle and you had to ride to work every day, you'd say, this is great. I don't have to walk. But if I come in and then bring a car in, and give you a car to drive to work, you're going to think, well yeah, this bicycle was terrible. Why did I ever have that? But it was better than walking. So that's what I think everybody out in rural Michigan is going to find out when we bring this high-speed internet to them. A lot of people know it already, that come up here, we have a lot of transient them come up here, and part-time residents who have it down in the cities and they come up here and realize, Oh my gosh, it's not even available. You can't even get it. So with all these grants and these funds being allocated by the government for this specific task, it must be an important aspect of society to have internet. Oh yeah. Yeah. When we started looking at this, and like I said, I've even lived in, so... Boyne City schools, which is rural school here in Northern Michigan and many others, I just know this, my kids go to school. Elementary school to get an iPad, middle school, they get a Chromebook. High school, they get an Apple actual computer and all of their books you'd think, Oh, they're loaded up in the computer. They're not. They're out in the cloud. Everything's going out in the cloud. So they need to have a link to look at their textbook. It's not actually loaded up on the device itself. But, what did kids do? Who are way out in the country? You have to go either get the cellular connection, which is expensive, very expensive. Or you go to the library, schedule time at school, go to grandma's house. My kids go to grandma's house because she lives in town, and they can get a high-speed internet connection there. So, I've actually had to sit at the library with my kids linked up so they could do their homework. So, that's really interesting because there might be some people who don't have those. No, but there are people that don't have that. And then to try to come in, it's hard. Mom and dad are working shift work, or they only have one car. You can see where you start to get the massive disadvantage. And that's just education. So my parents, they're both in their seventies and have to go to doctors and everything, and they're down in Ohio. They go to the Cleveland clinic. I remember my mom called me. It wasn't more than, not a year ago. She could no longer call somebody to schedule her doctor's appointments. It all has to be done online. Now they have internet access, and that's not a big problem for them. But that situation is here. So your interaction with your doctor is going to require a high-speed internet connection. And I mean interaction with the government, anything you do with the government right now is, you need internet connection. Taxes, social security- Your Bridge Card- Your Bridge Card, any forms that you need done that is all done through internet. So without this, essentially we could perpetuate that cycle of poverty. What I heard at one of the symposiums I went to was that, if we did not do this, rural America could slide back 20 years. There are bigger issues with that 20 year slide because it doesn't just change how we connect to our social media accounts or apply for jobs. It's a systematic issue that could impact all of our rural counties in Michigan who are run by the same state and federal government. And some of these policies are very inequitable, but that's why Great Lakes Energy is doing what they're doing. But, the standard for education, what we're deciding to do at the state level with education, for rural education, is being based off of what's going on, what we're capable of doing in Grand Rapids. Correct. Or what we're capable of doing in Lansing. Yep. Even in the suburbs, and in Boyne City itself, if you lived in Boyne City, there is the cable company, there's Charter, and then there's the phone company. This effort I think is going to be just a huge changer especially for the rural society, for rural America out there. So I think this is going to just again, not let rural America slide into 20 years ago. And then business-wise, small business-wise, I mean we've seen that already from people who A, can work from home now. The small home businesses now have access to global market. You can sell your stuff on an eBay or Amazon, or whatever you want to do. But, you have to have a really good communication system set up with high-speed. Education-wise, when I was a kid an encyclopedia was awesome. I can only imagine having high-speed internet, and if you didn't offer that to a kid that had to go to an encyclopedia, and another kid that had access to everything on the world wide web, it's night and day difference. They're just going to get left in the dust. Dr. Edward Smith is a rural hematologist oncologist in St. Ignes, Michigan. That's the city just passed the Mackinac bridge. He serves cancer patients from all over the Upper Peninsula, patients who are not only very underserved but also with very limited access to healthcare and resources like modern technology. A few years ago, Dr. Smith worked with a team from Blue Cross that was trying to develop treatment and quality assessments for patients across Michigan, and Dr. Smith spoke up about what he was facing in the Upper Peninsula. What came next, was two oncologists from the University of Michigan who took the time to come up and understand what barriers the patients they were living with. A lot of what they were trying to do such as contacting patients by phone for follow up, or having them call in, or go through internet portals and stuff, sounds real good except we have patients that live in places in the Upper Peninsula that they don't have internet, or they don't have telephones. And even some of them, some patients, even to make a cell phone call, they have to drive a couple miles to the top of a hill to get cell coverage. And, there's places in West Makinac and in Lewis County where there aren't power lines, and there aren't internet. That's just how it is. Some people live in very remote, isolated areas. And so my contribution, so to speak, to that whole thing is on as well as the Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium, which I'm part of is to say, look, not everybody has these things. And to people that practice in major metropolitan areas, they just don't picture the fact that not everybody has a computer, and people don't have internet. So I mean, you have to realize that not everybody has the resources to do all this kind of stuff. And so when insurance companies or the government want to start making rules and involve this, they really need to take into consideration not everybody has these resources. At one of the meetings, I was telling them about the challenges that I face doing oncology in rural areas. And to their credit, they came to St. Ignes, and they spent a day and a half with me, seeing the facilities, understanding what was here. I took them to Newbury and to St. Marie, and took them to the places where people live so they had a better picture of how far people have to travel for stuff. The fact that not everybody has phones, and internet, and many people drive the total of four hours a day if they need radiation therapy, and it just isn't that easy for the people that live in these remote areas. And even when they do get to a hospital, that's very, very limited. And to their credit, they came up and went with me so they could see it. And on top of it, they actually interviewed the patients that had to do this stuff. So they probably interviewed six people that had to get some of their treatment, not just locally, but people that I had to coordinate it with through the University of Michigan. And when I asked Dr. Smith about the outcome of his advocacy, I found that he really did make an impact. Yeah. They were very appreciative of the challenges we face. And then when we have been at these Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium meetings, looking at standards and stuff, we'll refer to things as what we learned when we spend time with Ed was... And they're finding out that some places in the Upper Peninsula, one of the other providers, they have no hospice in their county. One of the big things is when we refer patients to hospice that doesn't exist, or the hospice people might take a week to get out there. So they're, they're finding out that the distance that people travel, and the resources made available are very different. And so you have to think about that when you start coming up with quality measures in deciding when you're going to pay for value-based reimbursement. Now, not everyone can take a two day trip to the UP, and interview patients in order to understand the importance of equitable policies and the need for adequate infrastructure for rural communities, which unfortunately leaves many people who live in these remote places in the dark. Sometimes literally. Dr. Smith was an advocate for his rural communities, and it brought about awareness to the needs of his patients. Great Lakes Energy is making decisions every day that is going to bring about significant changes to Northern Lower Michigan. But as I say in almost every episode, there is still so much work to be done. The work right now, in regards to what we've been talking about, is bringing rural Michigan and rural America on an equal resource plane as urban America. It starts with leaders like Dr. Smith advocating for their rural constituents, but it also includes policy makers. And policy makers that are considering the most underserved and resource-poor communities when making changes in manifestos. Right now is a crucial moment for rural communities, and if it's going to work, we are going to have to work together. Thank you for listening to this Rural Mission. I would like to thank Dr. Ed Smith and Joe McCue for agreeing to be interviewed for this podcast, and I'd also like to thank my husband, Daniel, for letting me take over our Sunday afternoon conversation. As always. I want to thank Dr. Andrea Wendling, the director of the Leadership and Rural Medicine Programs at Michigan State University for making this podcast happen. This is our first episode of Season Two. We are so very excited to bring you more episodes this year. We hope you'll tune in every week this fall. I'm your host, Julia Trehune, and I hope that this podcast inspires you to make rural your mission. Wherever you send me, I will go. Wherever you send me, wherever you send me, wherever you send me I will go. Alexandria to Baltimore, Statton Island to New Jersey shore, to Ohoma or to Pigeon Forge, Lord, I will go. Montebella down to Oceanside. Pasadena or to Paradise. Sacramento up to Anaheim. Lord, I will go. Wherever you send me, wherever you send me, wherever you send me I will go. Wherever you send me, wherever you send me, wherever you send me, I will go. Albuquerque down to Sante Fe. San Antonio to Monterey. New York City down to Tampa Bay. Lord, I will go. Anaconda down to Evergreen. Broken Arrow to Abilene. Independence or to [inaudible 00:23:00] Lord, I will go. Wherever you send me, wherever you send me, wherever you send me, I will go. Wherever you send me, wherever you send me, wherever you send me, I will go. Wherever you send me, I will go. Music today was brought to you by Bryan Eggers. We are always grateful to Bryan for his tunes that make our podcast better. Check him out on Facebook! 

The Connect America Fund (CAF) from the federal government has been both praised and criticized as a mechanism to expand rural broadband deployment. In this episode of the podcast, Principal of Mattey Consulting Carol Mattey talks in depth with Christopher about the program. Carol was a Deputy Bureau Chief in the Wireline Competition Bureau at the FCC to help develop … Continue reading "Inside the Connect America Fund with Carol Mattey – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 375"

The FCC authorized over $524 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 205,520 unserved rural homes and businesses in 23 states, representing the third wave of support from last year’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction.

The FCC authorized over $524 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 205,520 unserved rural homes and businesses in 23 states, representing the third wave of support from last year’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction.

Yesterday, the FCC authorized $166.8 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 60,850 unserved rural homes and businesses in 22 states, representing the second wave of support from last year’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Providers will begin receiving funding this month.

Yesterday, the FCC authorized $166.8 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 60,850 unserved rural homes and businesses in 22 states, representing the second wave of support from last year’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Providers will begin receiving funding this month.

The FCC has authorized nearly $111.6 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 37,148 unserved rural homes and businesses in 12 states representing the first wave of support from last year’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Providers will begin receiving funding this month.

The FCC has authorized nearly $111.6 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 37,148 unserved rural homes and businesses in 12 states representing the first wave of support from last year’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Providers will begin receiving funding this month.

A year ago, we last had Jonathan Chambers of Conexon on the podcast to discuss the pros and cons of the Connect America Fund. Since then, the FCC has held an auction to expand connectivity in rural areas as part of the Connect America Fund Phase II (Auction 903) and recently released news of the winning … Continue reading "Analyzing the Auction With Jonathan Chambers – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 321"

Jon Chambers, a partner at Conexon, returns to visit us this week to talk about rural connectivity and the approaching Connect America Fund (CAF) auction. Conexon works with electric cooperatives to establish high-quality Internet networks for members, typically in rural areas where national providers don't offer the kinds of services communities need.Having spent time at the … Continue reading "Jon Chambers: Rethinking The Rules on The Connect America Fund – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 268" ★ Support this podcast ★

In its first action under Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC today voted to provide up to $170 million from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband deployment in unserved rural areas of New York State. The $170 million in federal funding will be coupled with at least $200 million in state funding and private investment to jump-start broadband deployment and close the digital divide in these unserved areas more quickly. This partnership with the state program will also result in more efficient and effective use of both state and federal funding.

In its first action under Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC today voted to provide up to $170 million from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband deployment in unserved rural areas of New York State.The $170 million in federal funding will be coupled with at least $200 million in state funding and private investment to jump-start broadband deployment and close the digital divide in these unserved areas more quickly. This partnership with the state program will also result in more efficient and effective use of both state and federal funding.

In its first action under Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC today voted to provide up to $170 million from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband deployment in unserved rural areas of New York State. The $170 million in federal funding will be coupled with at least $200 million in state funding and private investment to jump-start broadband deployment and close the digital divide in these unserved areas more quickly. This partnership with the state program will also result in more efficient and effective use of both state and federal funding.

In its first action under Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC today voted to provide up to $170 million from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband deployment in unserved rural areas of New York State.The $170 million in federal funding will be coupled with at least $200 million in state funding and private investment to jump-start broadband deployment and close the digital divide in these unserved areas more quickly. This partnership with the state program will also result in more efficient and effective use of both state and federal funding.

From a regulatory perspective, the FCC is the lead agency shaping this Administration’s broadband legacy, both for its aggressive policymaking and its program funding. This interview looks at how far the FCC has come, and how much further some feel the agency should go to facilitate broadband advancement in the U.S. Gigi Sohn, Counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, gives listeners insights to the agency’s efforts to promote fast, fair and open broadband networks.  She’ll discuss issues such as community broadband, Lifeline and E-Rate modernization, net neutrality and the FCC’s role as a consumer protection agency.  As broadband networks become ever more essential to full participation in our society and our economy, the FCC's role will become even more critical.           Among Sohn’s roles at the FCC is ensuring that the public has an opportunity to participate in FCC’s proceedings that will determine the future of broadband networks.  Sohn discusses how consumers and small businesses can make their voice heard at the Commission.  As former CEO of the public advocacy group Public Knowledge, Sohn is well-positioned to give listeners a perspective on what it is like to go from outside advocate to inside bureaucrat.

Last week Kansas citizens revolted fiercely against a proposed state legislation that would have nuked broadband competition from municipalities in that state. All forms of media exploded with public advocates railing against the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger's threat to competition. Many consumers decry the lack of competition. But what's the private sector's take? Executives from two companies that provide highspeed services offer private-sector perspectives on the state of U.S. broadband competition. Large telecom and cable companies tell us all is well. Many rural communities say they barely have dial-up services. What's the real deal? And if the source of problems is lack of competition, what can or should the private sector do about it?  Jerry Cady, the Director of Sales and Marketing at LS Networks, and Mark Scully, President of Comspan Communications tackle serious issues on the topic. in communities where broadband is lacking, is the private sector alone capable of resolving the problem;what role do state and local governments have in increasing competition;are the FCC's potential actions regarding net neutrality, easing restrictions on municipalities and expanding the Connect America Fund (CAF) likely to impact competition; and will a transition from traditional network to IP technologies add to or reduce competitors in various markets?   

There's a potential new channel for FCC broadband money, and you want a shot at getting some. If you're planning a pilot project for your broadband buildout, don't miss this interview.  On January 30, the FCC is likely to approve an order for an Expression of Interest in a program that will award Connect America Fund (CAF) money in one-time grants to fund pilot projects. How much money your project potentially can get depends on several factors including financial and technical viability of the project, soundness of the long-term business plan, strength of local support, community impact and overall creativity of the project.   Public utilities, community-owned networks and other "nontraditional" organizations will be eligible to receive grants. Get insights to how you can prepare a pilot project proposal that puts you in the running for this program. Alyssa Clemsen-Roberts, Industry Affairs Manager at the Utilities Telecom Council, gives listeners insights on pilot project development, planning and writing the proposal for the FCC. The interview also addresses how to tie effective needs analysis into your planning and establishing benchmarks to measure your pilot's success.    

Confirmed this month by the Senate for her 2nd term, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn sits down with Gigabit Nation to discuss some of the FCC's upcoming actions and her outlook for broadband in the upcoming months. Some of the issues discussed are:Mow might the 14 pilot projects identified reform Lifeline?  How might the 14 pilot projects identified reform Lifeline?How will CAF Phase II evolve as the FCC seeks recipients for the un-allocated Phase I money?When and how are the remaining billions of USF funds expected to be disbursed as they convert to CAF?How is the pool of FCC broadband funds recipients expanding to include smaller and non-traditional providers?How can individuals and communities outside of the Beltway assert a stronger voice in FCC policy and procedures?   Comm. Clyburn also discusses some of the other major issues facing the FCC, such as spectrum allocation, media consolidation and the always popular net neutrality debates.

The FCC's Connect America Fund is the current end product of reforming the Universal Service Fund. If the number and variety of people complaining about a particular government program is a measure of success, then the FCC has been wildly successful with USF reform. Today's interview with telecom attorney Fred Goldstein (partner with Interisle Consulting Group) attempts to sort out some of the wailing and gnashing of teeth. what's wrong with CAF, what's right with CAF who benefitted from this phase I of the CAF program (some argue it won't be rural communities) should we be surprised carriers refused to play in the CAF game does anyone really understand how this program works if we're having this much angst and agony over CAF phase I and II with only $300 million, what's going to happen when reform of the remaining $4 billion in former USF money comes on line? Anyone who's involved with, working for or cares about broadband in the U.S. needs to listen to this show.    

The FCC is one of the most pivotal federal agency in terms of implementing national policies and funding programs that impact broadband deployments and adoption. But do communities maximize the potential to influence these policies and programs, or are the challenges too great? Sharon Gillett knows FCC procedures from the inside out, and shares this valuable expertise to help listeners develop strategies for navigating the challenges. As the former Chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, she herded major agency reforms through DC.'s political and bureaucratic mazes. This interview summarizes: some of the FCC major activities affecting broadband that communities can participate in and/or influence; the typical process for moving from policy ideas to actual programs; how to work the public comment period; and ways in which communities and small or regional ISPs and telcos may partner to influence the FCC policy and programs. For more FCC-related commentary, check out this writeup of my conversation Monday with FCC Chairman Genachowski.

The Internet connection for this broadcast failed 35 minutes into the show. We couldn't revive the feed. Kevin has agreed to come back at a later date to complete the interview. Be on the look out for Part 2 of our interview. With the increasing drive by communities to get better broadband networks in their areas, there is likewise a growing interest in creating cooperatives to move these projects forward. How do communities create co-ops that ensure the best interests of constituents and their partners are served? Kevin Larson, Gen. Manager of the Minnesota telephone co-op Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC), helps listeners understand the key elements of successful co-op business strategy. CTC is involved with several projects within the state. Questions addressed in this interview include: What are some successful building blocks if a community is considering starting a new co-op? How can existing telephone co-ops expand into, or increase the size of, broadband services Will the FCC’s transition of the Universal Service Fund into the Connect America Fund benefit co-ops How will AT&T’s move to abandon rural communities impact co-ops’ ability to deliver services. This is the first of two broadcasts from the Blandin Foundation’s “Minnesota’s Better with Broadband” summit where Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles delivers the keynote presentation.

In a 759-page document containing 84 pages of regulations the FCC, among other goals, attempts to reform the Universal Service Fun (USF) by morphing the $4.5 billion annual tax into the Connect America Fund that hopefully leads to increased broadband deployments. But will it?   This broadcast explores what reform means to broadband deployments in general, community networks in particular and to small ISPs and telcos. Our guest, JSI Capital Advisors Analyst Cassandra Heyne, has spent most of her life in the rural telecom business (her family owns a 100-year old rural telco in Iowa), and most of the past two weeks immersed in the FCC's reform order.   Heyne helps our listeners make some sense of what has been a complex and confusing process, and the resulting reform order. When all is said and done, inquiring minds should have a better idea of what $4.5 billion buys us in a couple of years.