The Frederick County Economic Development Authority (FDA) on Thursday unanimously approved legislative priorities to send to the Virginia General Assembly, one of which is "to support policies and budgets that provide broadband access to all parts of Virginia." The FDA believes that "broadband is ‘essential to the state's competitiveness’ and that too many areas of the state — including parts of Frederick County — lack this crucial resource."
Speaker backs rural broadband proposal
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston announced that he "supports a plan to fund rural broadband by sticking a new tax on e-books, steaming services and other digital goods while lowering an existing tax on traditional services such as landlines and cable TV." In a statement discuss...
America desperately needs fiber internet, and the tech giants won’t save us
In a conversation on fiber with Recode’s Peter Kafka and Harvard Law School professor Susan Crawford, Crawford "explained why nationwide access to high-speed fiber internet — already standard in parts of Asia and Europe — is important for everything from the future of work t...
Lack of funding poses challenges for expanding broadband access in Pa.
"A group representing rural Pennsylvanians says expanding high speed broadband internet access in the state needs to be a priority this year," but acknowledged that funding for infrastructure upgrades continues to be an imposition. Vince Philips with the Pennsylvania State Grange,...
Broadband reforms welcome, but public must remain vigilant
The Sun Community News Editorial Board published an editorial highlighting concerns about New York State’s broadband program. The editorial encouraged "local lawmakers to develop a systemic structure to capture and direct all telecommunications-related concerns" from residen...
Rep. Lisa Stone Barnes to tackle broadband in first term
One of the first things that North Carolina Rep. Lisa Stone Barnes wants to focus on in the legislature is "expanding broadband coverage in rural areas of her district." Barnes said that "lack of broadband access cuts her constituents off from educations and health care opportunit...
Report: Charleston lags behind other SC towns in high-speed Internet availability
A report from BroadbandNow shows only 9.4 percent of Charleston County residents have access to high-quality, high-speed fiber Internet service. Meanwhile, 17.9 percent of South Carolinians can buy fiber Internet if they wish, and 27.1 percent of all Americans can. The Charleston ...