Carl Weinschenk

Roslyn Heights

Editor at Freelance

Contributor at Telecompetitor

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Articles

Biggest Nevada BEAD Awardee is Commerce's Latest Pen Pal

1 week ago | telecompetitor.com | Carl Weinschenk

The latest stakeholder to send a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is Sky Fiber Internet, the largest Nevada BEAD awardee in the rural broadband funding program. In the letter, the company urged Lutnick to expedite contract finalization and issue guidance so construction can begin. Commerce put the BEAD program on hold, pending a review and potential rule changes. Sky Fiber already invested $360,000 in the project, for which it won about $180 million.
Wireless Supply Chain Fund Sees Strong Response

1 week ago | telecompetitor.com | Carl Weinschenk

The third round of applications in the federal Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund has seen a strong response. Ninety-four applications requesting almost $3 billion were received in this round, which has a budget of $450 million. The applications included proposals for more than $1.3 billion in private investment.
Broadband Forum Plugfest Tests 50G-PON and 25GS-PON Interoperability

1 week ago | telecompetitor.com | Carl Weinschenk

The most recent Broadband Forum “Plugfest” focused on 50G-PON and 25GS-PON interoperability. The Plugfest was conducted with LANPARK and AT&T Labs at the latter’s Plano, TX facility. LANPARK is an independent laboratory located in Tours, France. It was the first time 50G-PON had been assessed for interoperability in the Plugfest series, and the second time for 25GS-PON. Other participants were Adtran, Broadcom, Calix, CIG, Cortina Access, Gemtek, Lambda Networks, MT2, Nokia, Sagemcom, and Vantiva.
Missouri Delays Award Announcements Pending BEAD Changes

1 week ago | benton.org | Carl Weinschenk

Missouri’s Office of Broadband Development reported that scoring and initial determinations for Round 1 of the state’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program process could result in preliminary awards for 150,712 eligible locations. The state is not announcing who the winners are, however. Missouri is set to receive $1.736 billion in BEAD funding. The OBD is part of the state’s Department of Economic Development.
Missouri Delays Award Announcements Pending BEAD Changes

1 week ago | telecompetitor.com | Carl Weinschenk

Missouri’s Office of Broadband Development reported today that scoring and initial determinations for Round 1 of the state’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program process could result in preliminary awards for 150,712 eligible locations. The state is not announcing who the winners are, however. Missouri is set to receive $1.736 billion in BEAD funding. The OBD is part of the state’s Department of Economic Development.
Robocalls Up in March, But Scam Portion Declines: Report

1 week ago | telecompetitor.com | Carl Weinschenk

April was a mixed month for robocalls: Overall, calls were up compared to March, but scam robocalls declined by a significant amount, according to a new YouCall report. The overall increase was 3% and reached almost 5 billion calls. That was the most since August 2023. The report says that the total for the first four months of the year was approximately 18.9 billion robocalls. That was an increase of 11.39% compared to the first four months of 2024. Other metrics were up as well.
NM Surf Gets $2.4M Grant for Broadband in Rural New Mexico Schools

1 week ago | telecompetitor.com | Carl Weinschenk

Santa Fe-based NM Surf has been awarded a grant of $2,395,072 to deploy broadband access to connect 250 rural schools and their staffs in New Mexico. The award was made through the $25 million Student Connect program, which is administered by the state’s Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE). The OBAE announcement says funding granted to The Santa Fe Project will enable deployment of towers and fixed wireless access (FWA) infrastructure.
Altice USA’s Optimum Brand and Google Cloud Expand AI Collaboration

1 week ago | telecompetitor.com | Carl Weinschenk

Altice USA, through its Optimum brand, and Google Cloud today announced a multi-year agreement to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the service provider’s customer service. The press release says that Google Cloud’s tools are already handling more than half of customer inquiries. Going forward, the service provider will use Google’s Customer Engagement Suite, Vertex AI platform, and Gemini models to enhance its AVA virtual AI agent.
GFiber Expands Multi-Gig Home Services to Four More States

1 week ago | telecompetitor.com | Carl Weinschenk

UPDATE, May 5: GFiber announced today that it will roll out its multi-gig services to four more states: Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas. This further expands their “lifestyle-based” services, which were made available to Utah and Idaho in April, and to Alabama, Arizona, North Carolina, and Tennessee in January.
Visionary Broadband Acquires MTWeb

2 weeks ago | benton.org | Carl Weinschenk

Visionary Broadband has acquired Montana-based MTWeb. Visionary says that the deal will expand its presence in the village of Whitehall and provide expanded services in the Twin Bridges, Pipestone, and Cardwell areas. The areas impacted are in the central area of the state. “With this acquisition, we can bring faster, more reliable internet to even more Montana residents,” said Visionary Broadband CEO Brian Worthen.