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Rural Connect

NRTC offers Rural Connect as a place for its members and others interested to follow all topics related to communications technology and how it affects rural electric cooperatives and telecommunications providers. NRTC uses this blog to announce and discuss its products and services. NRTC posts all Rural Connect content on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, where you can use the blog to discuss technology, regulatory, legislative and business issues.

Aug 11, 2022

FCC Disqualifies Major RDOF Bidders LTD and Starlink

by Steve Pastorkovich

The FCC yesterday rejected the long-form applications of two major bidders in the 2020 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) reverse auction. LTD Broadband and Starlink (SpaceX) between them provisionally won more than $2.1 billion in support over 10 years. The Commission “determined that these a...

Aug 9, 2022

Broadband the Basis for Interagency Information Sharing

by Randy Sukow

The problem, according to four members of Congress, is that there are not enough charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs), especially in rural areas and other “underserved” communities. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) allocates funds to address the problem, including $5 bi...

Aug 5, 2022

Commission Seeks High Participation in ACP

by Randy Sukow

The FCC at its monthly agenda meeting this morning adopted two orders meant to increase participation in its Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). It established an Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program to gather “partners” and fund awareness programs. At the same time, it launched “...

Aug 2, 2022

ReConnect 4 Offers Similarities and New Angles to Broadband Funding Program

by Steve Pastorkovich and Robert Svoboda

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has released a preliminary Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for Round 4 of the ReConnect Loan and Grant broadband funding program. Like previous rounds of ReConnect, applicants propose their own funding areas, and choose...

Aug 1, 2022

Southern Indiana Fiber Partnership Featured in RE Magazine

by Randy Sukow

SEI Fiber, a partnership of Southeastern Indiana Rural Electric Membership Corp. and neighboring rural telco, SEI Communications, is nearing the end of a 1,800-mile high-speed network construction project. NRTC managed the project that has begun providing 1 Gbps service to the region with technology...

Jul 15, 2022

Playbook Aims to Help States Set Ground Rules & Strategically Manage Broadband Funding

by Steve Pastorkovich

Earlier this week, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association and the Fiber Broadband Association jointly released an updated Broadband Infrastructure Playbook. The Playbook offers guidance to help states as they establish policies and procedures to manage the $42.5 billion dollars for broadband infra...

Jul 13, 2022

NRTC Operational Intelligence Platform Now Available for Broadband Providers

by Randy Sukow

NRTC today is introducing an Operational Intelligence platform, a software system to help telephone and electric member companies organize their day-to-day broadband business functions from a central location. The vendor-agnostic analytics system accepts data from a wide variety of sources, from inf...

Jul 12, 2022

Study Finds Broadband Increased U.S. GDP $1.3 Trillion by 2020

by Randy Sukow

Broadband is good for the U.S. economy. Rural America needs broadband. Most people instinctively know this. Most rural areas that have installed fiber optic connections can point to community and business successes. But until recently, most of the evidence has been anecdotal. Economists have found i...

Jul 8, 2022

Wireless Functions Add Value to Armada Power Water Heater Control

by Randy Sukow

NRTC partner Armada Power, an Ohio-based software developer with a system for collecting water heater data demand management, has added new capabilities to its system. The new LCS2400 Grid Optimizer is a cellular-enabled device for water heater control. “The new, dual-network device has been certi...

Jul 7, 2022

Always Looking for an Edge to Serve Members

by Randy Sukow

NRTC staff perform a number of routine tasks every day in the course of doing business. It’s always a plus to find practices that improve efficiency because anything that makes our tasks more efficient usually ends up benefiting our members. Take, for example, preparing a response to a member Requ...

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