What’s New

More than $346 million was earmarked to expand Missouri’s rural broadband infrastructure, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Monday.

The funds come from the commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a $20 billion effort to bring broadband services to rural homes and small businesses.

More than 199,000 unserved Missouri homes and businesses are set to receive access to the internet at speeds averaging 25 megabytes per second (MBPS) through the fund, according to the commission.

The Trump Administration announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $91.5 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Missouri. This investment is part of the $550 million Congress allocated to the second round of the ReConnect Program.

This dashboard may be relevant for local education decision makers dealing with COVID and trying to figure out whether to continue to allocate resources to in home online learning. Take a look at the results over a wide range of schooling options and compare results. Also, consider adding information for your school if you want to participate.

Farms could contribute billions more dollars to the U.S. economy with the help of precision agriculture technology, but this can’t happen without more broadband, said experts during a National Telecommunications and Information Administration webinar yesterday.

Give everybody the internet. We need to get the internet to everyone in America. Here’s what it would take to do it.

Too little progress has been made to ensure that high-speed Internet is available to all. As the pandemic has demonstrated, far too many still don't have what they need to function in a virtual world.

In Phase 1 Kansas City, MO seeks to connect students from low-income households to the Internet this school year to facilitate participation in distance learning programs implemented by the school districts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A battle between dozens of city governments and some of the world's largest wireless carriers
over the future of 5G infrastructure appears to have ended with a decisive victory for the
telecom companies.

Earlier this month [July 21], Marshall Stewart joined federal, state and Kansas City leaders online for a panel discussion, co-presented by the Urban League of Kansas City's COVID-19 Collective Impact Collaborative and the Kansas City Public Library.

Panelists discussed the many ways the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the pervasive inequities of the digital divide. They examined the economic, educational, and social gulf between those who have computers and online access and those who do not – and the impact that has particularly on Black Americans and other disadvantaged populations in Kansas City and across the country. All agreed there is urgent need for comprehensive and effective solutions to ensure our nation’s continuing competitiveness and opportunities to prosper for all.

Other participants included Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks (a native of Kansas City), Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, Third District Kansas City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Mark Bedell and Kansas City Public Library Deputy Director Carrie Coogan, who is part of the steering council of the Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion and a member National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s board of directors.

The blue-ribbon group assessed local and national efforts to ensure that homes and individuals across the city, state, and nation have broadband access — as much a household necessity in today’s technology-driven society as water, gas, and electricity.

Moderators were Gwendolyn Grant, CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, and Clint Odom, the National Urban League’s senior vice president for policy and advocacy and executive director of the NUL’s Washington bureau. The session also featured a message from South Carolina Rep. and U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn.

Beginning in mid-2017, DEEDP endeavored to answer several questions arising surrounding broadband and its impact on rural Missouri. Key questions included broadband’s impact on out-migration and in-migration, the impact of low services, slow speed broadband and relatively high prices compared to areas with fiber’s high-speed broadband and low prices. In the analysis the economic and social impact of high-speed broadband was both qualitatively and quantitatively presented in an easy to understand format designed for policy makers and business executives.

Communities across the country are in an economic race. To compete, they need employers and qualified workers, both of which require a robust information- and knowledge-sharing infrastructure. While some communities are ahead of the pack, others are falling far behind.
Broadband is a critical component in this economic race, allowing businesses large and small to reach customers, farmers to deploy resource-saving technologies, and workers to learn critical job skills.

On Wednesday, experts from all four University of Missouri System universities and MU Extension unveiled a plan to expand broadband access in a rural pilot community. In a public webinar, the UM System Broadband Leadership Team offered highlights of its report. 

On June 1, 2020, nearly one hundred individuals in locations throughout Missouri and
across the United States gathered “online” to help develop a “Plan” to bring broadband to a
Missouri community -- Bollinger County.

Governor Parson announced nearly $50 million to support broadband expansion across Missouri, including support directed at telehealth and education. The Governor also signed house bill 1768, which expands the state’s existing Missouri Broadband Grant Program until 2027.

There was a time when telephone lines did not span the U.S., proudly marking the landscape in nearly every conceivable populated area. But telephones, as with refrigerators and light bulbs before them, soon became essential.

In 2018, Mississippi ranked near the bottom of the country in terms of broadband access. Today, evidence suggests a 2019 law could forever change the status quo of high-speed Internet in rural Mississippi.

Company president Brad Smith urges lawmakers to include broadband expansion funding as part of a coronavirus stimulus package. As millions are working and studying from home, Internet connectivity is no longer an option.

Now, more than ever, broadband Internet access (BIA) must be recognized as a social determinant of health. Disparities in access should be treated as a public health issue because they affect “the health of people and communities where they live, learn, work and play.”

Insights on Rural Broadband Infrastructure and Next Generation Precision Agriculture Technologies

Local governments have a legal obligation to keep conducting business and engaging the public during the global pandemic, but there can often be more to virtual public meetings than meets the eye.

The coronavirus crisis has made it clear that technology is essential to continuity of government. CIOs may see more of their wish lists fulfilled, but investing in IT will be tough with budgets heading south.

Describing rural Americans as "feeling abandoned and desperately in need of help," Rep. Robert Aderholt has asked the Trump administration to address connectivity that enables remote education and health services.

The just-introduced bipartisan bill would send the money to state and local governments through the Department of Homeland Security, which would also create a new federal strategy for cybersecurity.

Building a fiber-to-the-home network will deliver world-class, high-speed communications for co-op members and enhance electrical infrastructure with smart grid capabilities.

The nation’s governors are delving into their varied policy priorities for the coming year, but a new shared reality is emerging: Governors are committed to ensuring that everyone has access to the Internet.

Poor broadband service is not uncommon for the Hermitage area or the county. Hickory County ranks
92nd out of 115 in broadband speed in Missouri counties, according to data from the Federal
Communications Commission, or FCC.