FCC to expand rural broadband experiments

The FCC voted 5-0 today to appropriate up to $100 million to expand rural broadband through its Connect America Fund.

According to the FCC, “The experiments will also test service over diverse technologies, including fiber and wireless networks, and will be open to non-traditional providers, including electric utilities, wireless internet service providers, and others.”

This move follows the commission’s initial announcement of the program in January of 2014, which drew more than a thousand responses “from a wide range of entities proposing service over diverse technologies.”

FCC launches rural broadband expansion experiments  (FCC news release, Jul. 11, 2014)