Alabama Awards $1.14 Million in Broadband Grants

Governor Kay Ivey on Monday announced she has awarded more than $1.14 million in grants to provide access to high-speed internet in several Alabama communities.  The six grants are the second round of awards presented by Gov. Ivey under the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund.  In the latest round, some providers were awarded more than one grant to provide service in different areas.

“Alabama’s rural residents not only want, but need to be on a super highway when it comes to technology,” Governor Ivey said. “Access to high-speed internet in our rural areas will open the way to improved educational opportunities, economic development projects and better health-care services.  I am very proud to award these grants to expand access to affordable high-speed internet in these communities.”

The fund was created by the Alabama Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ivey in March 2018 to provide high-speed internet in underserved communities.

The Broadband Accessibility Fund provides grants for service providers to supply high-speed internet services in unincorporated areas or communities with 25,000 people or less.  Under the law, the awards cannot exceed 20 percent of the total cost of a project.

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The Regulatory Mix Today: Alabama Awards $1.14 Million in Broadband Grants, FCC Commissioner Starks Releases Responses to Free, Default Robocall Blocking Services Inquiry

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FCC Commissioner Starks Releases Responses to Free, Default Robocall Blocking Services Inquiry

The FCC announced that Commissioner Geoffrey Starks publicly released responses he received from major voice service providers to letters he sent in June seeking details about their plans to offer free, default robocall blocking services to consumers.  14 of the largest US Carriers were included and sent responses to the Commissioner.  The responses are available here.

Commissioner Starks stated: “I appreciate the timely responses to my letters. Transparency is critical to good policymaking, so I am publicly releasing the complete responses of the carriers – so that everyone can read their responses in their own words. Despite historically clamoring for new tools, it does not appear that all providers have acted with haste to deploy opt-out robocall blocking services.  The Commission spoke clearly: we expect opt-out call blocking services to be offered to consumers for free.  Reviewing the substance of these responses, by and large, carriers’ plans for these services are far from clear. In our action last month, the Commission committed to studying this issue and delivering a progress report within a year.  If we find that carriers are acting contrary to our expectations, we will commence a rulemaking.  To that end, as I noted in my letters, I expect to be updated by carriers as progress is made on offering free call blocking services and recommend that carriers not stop until the job is finished.  The sooner, the better.”

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.