| Getting Rural Broadband Right
The issues surrounding rural broadband coverage are many and I have been involved in studying them even prior to the formation of FirstNet. In fact, the Public Safety Alliance (PSA) used the lack of broadband coverage in congressional districts to convince some senators and representatives that by voting for what became FirstNet they would become heroes in their districts because their rural populations could then be served with broadband. In a Senate hearing on FirstNet in June of 2016, the Chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee, Senator Wicker (R-MS), made it clear that rural coverage was a concern to him and other members of Congress. In the FirstNet request for proposal Section J-1 Coverage and Capacity Definitions, FirstNet defined the coverage areas and types of coverage. In another section of the RFP, FirstNet required those responding to partner with and use rural carriers to help achieve the coverage goals. Now that AT&T has been awarded the contract and the state plans are being evaluated before becoming finalized, there are many questions regarding Public Safety coverage in rural areas of the United States. However, FirstNet and AT&T, like the rest of the organizations and groups pushing for broadband coverage in rural areas, seem to be going it alone. My view of the rural coverage issues is that until and unless there is synergy between all of the disparate programs and funding sources, Rural America will remain mostly underserved. Read the rest of the story here Below is the week’s news recap from Discovery Patterns: new LTE handheld device certified by AT&T, is FirstNet-ready – 4-Traders via Google Alerts FCC Requests Comment on FirstNet Interoperability Matrix – MissionCritical FirstNet Meets With States on Individual Network Plans – MeriTalk via Google Alerts June 2017 FCC Meeting Recap: FCC Adopts Rules to Govern State Opt-out of FirstNet Plan – Lexology via Google Alerts CenturyLink wants to shed 7 legacy analog, low-speed data services in 24 states – FierceTelecom via Google Alerts Inside Vodacom’s new IoT lab – Photos – MyBroadband Sky and Space Global: Constellations need relief on regulatory filing, insurance cost – Space Intel Report via Google Alerts Webinar: LMR Narrowbanding – Utilities Telecom Council via Google Alerts Ubiquitous Low-Power Networks Up the IoT Ante – IT Business Edge via Google Alerts The Public Safety LTE & Mobile Broadband Market by Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies … – Kenya’s Content Aggregator.The Breaking news Headliner via Google Alerts IoT In Africa: SqwidNet Keen to Build Africa’s IoT Network – via Google Alerts Vodafone And Spark NZ Announce IoT Network Plans – ChannelNews via Google Alerts AT&T: it’s not “forced arbitration” because no one forced you to have broadband – Boing Boing via Google Alerts India added 60 million new internet users in 2016: TRAI – Moneycontrol.com via Google Alerts Huawei gets Internet recognition from GSMA – Punch Newspapers via Google Alerts Globe Telecom strengthens broadband, mobile connectivity in Cebu – Inquirer.net via Google Alerts Everything US Citizens Need to Know about the Broadband Privacy Rules – TripWire TIM Brasil activates 4G on 700 MHz in 7 cities – Telecompaper via Google Alerts |