IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The centers located mostly in rural communities are benefiting from the Federal Communication Commission Rural Health Care Pilot Program administered in West Virginia by the West Virginia Telehealth Alliance.

The program expands telehealth and telemedicine capabilities of eligible health centers and to enhance capacities for future electronic health information exchange.

Huntington city officials are in the planning phase of the new “Smart City” project.

City council approved a governing board to oversee the work.

Founded as an industrial city, there is a lot about Huntington city officials are hoping to upgrade.

“We want to lay 183 miles of fiber throughout the entire city, which will completely blanket the city in fiber-optic cable,” said project manager Cory Dennison.

The White House launched three new tools to help accelerate broadband infrastructure deployment across the nation, specifically on federally owned land.

According to a Sept. 16 White House blog post, the Obama administration is trying to make it easier for companies to install broadband infrastructure on federally owned properties and roads – nearly 30 percent of all land in the U.S. (including roughly 10,000 buildings). Toward that end, the President signed an executive order last year to make private-sector broadband construction projects on those roadways and buildings cheaper and more efficient.

For Fresno CIO Carolyn Hogg, the answer has to do with olive trees as wireless subscribers, tracking tomatoes from vine to dinner plate, self-driving tractors, and agricultural research and education that could boost the state’s economy and help feed the world. Hogg, along with a coalition of federal, state, private-sector and local interests, are working to secure high-speed wireless broadband to take the region’s agriculture, health care and education to the next level.

If the federal infrastructure bill makes it through the House of Representatives and receives President Joe Biden's signature, $65 billion will go to broadband. What does that really mean, though, for America's future?

In modern U.S. politics, there are no guarantees. Despite bipartisan support for the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill, the bill faces political hurdles among the Democratic members of the House of Representatives.

This month marks the beginning of a unique pilot program in Wisconsin where tethered drones will boost Internet connections for students living in rural areas within the Northland Pines School District.

Drones and broadband will intersect as part of a pilot program in rural Wisconsin that will bring high-speed Internet to students at home.

Faster internet will be coming to Eau Claire because of a new fiber optic network.

Tuesday night, the Eau Claire City Council unanimously voted 11 to 0 in favor of a memorandum of understanding with TDS Telecom, a Madison-based broadband company.

High-speed Internet access in Wisconsin varies widely, with fast connections missing even in some urban areas, according to a new broadband map produced by state regulators.

In some cases, broadband isn't much faster than dial-up Internet service, a slower connection through telephone wires.

"We have huge underserved areas, even in Milwaukee," said Thad Nation, executive director of Wired Wisconsin, an organization representing telecom firms.

Over one million feet of network lines have been installed throughout the city.

A citywide fiber network created to connect Kenosha residents with lightning-fast, reliable, affordable internet will soon reach its first Kenosha homes, according to SiFi Networks officials.

SiFi Networks is the driving force behind Kenosha FiberCity. It privately funds and operates citywide, open-access Smart City-enabled fiber networks across the United States.

Construction is underway on a $100 million project to add fiber-optic networks in Kenosha that will enable internet speeds up to 10 gigabits, according to a Thursday announcement.

New Jersey-based SiFi Networks will privately fund, own and operate the network, which the city approved in September 2020. Construction will take around three years to complete and will be conducted neighborhood by neighborhood, the announcement said. When fully implemented, the network will be available to all of the city's 40,000 households, as well as businesses and institutions in the city.

Local internet connectivity could be accessible for all Huntingtonians in the near future.

The City of Huntington has taken steps to establish a fiber-optic backbone across the city. After an engineering plan is finished, work to install 183 miles of lines will begin. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.

Earlier this year, the Huntington City Council approved $7 million of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to expand broadband in the city. The total estimated cost of the project is $14 million. The city is seeking other sources of funding, such as federal and state grants.

The FCC commission collectively voted to endorse a notice of proposed rulemaking, or NPRM. This program has been designed to endow inexpensive broadband connectivity to more than 2,000 rural hospitals and clinics all over the U.S. NPRM has been set up to find out if members of the public agree with the suggested changes.

Policy analysts, however, are unconvinced the program will fill a real economic need.

Connect Ohio, slated for completion at the end of June, was proposed by Gov. Ted Strickland (D) during his 2006 campaign. With $2.9 million a year in taxpayer funding, it is a public-private partnership to map out broadband access in the state and evaluate how technology is being used by the public. The stated goal is to use this information to spur private entities to invest in the areas lacking broadband service.

More than 1,100 cities and towns, and 194,000 individuals have responded to the Web search giant's offer to use at least one city to test a broadband network that's 100 times faster than what's typically available in America. The latest stats come from Google's blog on Friday, March 26, the day of the submission deadline in a post by James Kelly, product manager.

Rund 1.100 US-Kommunen haben sich für ein Google-Versuchsprojekt beworben, bei dem der US-Internet-Konzern Hochgeschwindigkeitsnetze testen will. Die Bewerbungsfrist endete am Freitag. Google werde die Bewerbungen nun prüfen. Welche Städte zum Zug kommen, werde das Unternehmen bis Ende des Jahres bekannt geben, teilte Google-Produktmanager James Kelly im Google-Blog mit.

About 350,000 Ohio households do not have access to broadband service.

Connect Ohio, which was initiated by Gov. Ted Strickland last December, released maps showing broadband coverage, as well as gaps in services, in the state.

The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the U.S. Rural Utilities Service (RUS) will officially announce awards for 66 new broadband projects that will touch all 50 states, Obama administration officials said. The money, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by the U.S. Congress in early 2009, is expected to create or save about 5,000 jobs, officials said.

Libraries can play a crucial role in developing the national broadband plan that will result from recent stimulus legislation, says the American Library Association (ALA) in comments before the Federal Communications Commission.

“The national broadband plan has the potential to benefit millions of people by enabling high-capacity, ‘future-proof’ connections to the Internet in large multi-user locations such as libraries,” said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of ALA’s Washington Office. As the premier public computing centers around the country, libraries can serve as “community anchor institutions” by providing broadband, Sheketoff said.