This entry highlights the current rural broadband funding opportunity presented by the $1.15 billion “ReConnect” program administered by the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS).[1] Under the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for its third round of Reconnect funding (ReConnect III), the RUS will be awarding loans and grants to construct, improve,
Part 3 of the Keller and Heckman Infrastructure Act Blog Series
Keller and Heckman’s Telecommunications Practice Group is publishing a series of Blog Posts to explore various provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“the IIJA” or “the Act”), which allocates $65 billion to support various types of broadband initiatives. Our introductory post provided
Part 2 of the Keller and Heckman Infrastructure Act Blog Series
Keller and Heckman’s Telecommunications Practice Group is publishing a series of Blog Posts to explore various provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“the Act”), which allocates $65 billion to support various types of broadband initiatives. The first substantive post in our series
As readers of our Beyond Telecom Law Blog know by now, Congress has just passed the largest broadband infrastructure funding package in US history. After a contentious few months in which its prospects were very much in question, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R.3684) (the Act) is now heading to President Biden’s
On Wednesday, July 28, the U.S. Senate voted to move forward on a bipartisan infrastructure bill (the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act”) that includes $65 billion to support broadband deployment and adoption. While a variety of procedural and political hurdles remain, we are cautiously optimistic about its prospects for enactment.
This blog entry highlights some
President Biden has now signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R 1319, “Act”) into law. As many are aware, the $1.9 trillion package includes $7.17 billion for an Emergency Connectivity Fund to enable remote learning, for which the FCC is to issue rules within 60 days of the Act’s enactment. This blog entry
Local governments committed to supporting their citizens most adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic should be encouraging the broadband providers serving their communities to take the necessary steps in the next several weeks to establish eligibility to participate in the $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. This Program is administered by the Federal Communications
A federal court decision last week will allow California to enforce its own net neutrality rules. As other states follow suit, the desire for a more uniform approach could lead to federal legislation clarifying the scope of FCC regulatory authority over broadband Internet access service.
On February 23, Judge John Mendez of the U.S. District
Enacted on December 27, 2020 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (“Act”) establishes or re-appropriates a number of significant broadband-related support programs. Reflecting the urgency of the COVID-19 situation, the Act calls for unusually prompt implementation by the administering agencies. For example, solicitations of
Trends Impacting Wireline Procurements
The preeminence of cloud computing warrants a “fresh look” at wide-area network design, particularly for enterprises considering wide-area network procurements. Enterprises have an important network design choice: either (i) maintain the current MPLS-based design with its uniform security policies, substantial traffic backhaul, and site-based defined routing, or (ii) migrate to one