Categories: News

FCC announces $20 billion fund to expand rural high-speed internet access

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted last week to establish a $20 billion fund to expand high-speed internet service in rural areas, the Food and Environment Reporting Network reports (paywall). The lion’s share of the fund will go to census blocks currently operating with no broadband at all.

Related Post

As we’ve reported in the past, rural America suffers from a dearth of high-speed internet access due to many factors, including low population density and a high cost of providing service. Still, policymakers have long pushed to bring internet access up to speed. Last year, FCC announced a $20 billion fund to expand 5G wireless technology to remote parts of the country, and two years ago, USDA launched a smaller but still substantial $600 million program to offer grants and low-interest loans to communities with fewer than 20,000 residents. Time to log in?

Read more: The Food and Environment Reporting Network (paywall).

The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

6 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

3 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

3 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

3 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

3 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago