rural broadband

The federal investment follows the $1 billion approved by Texas taxpayers to help connect the state.

An Oklahoma tribal nation and two telephone companies are receiving $67.4 million to expand broadband access in rural Oklahoma.

Reliable broadband service is essential in today's world, and we discuss Oklahoma's plan for improving access with the new executive director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office.

Oklahoma has nearly $800 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to expand broadband access across the state. It’s part of a $42.5 billion federal program called Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) — a component of the Biden-Harris administration’s “Internet for All” initiative.

Counties in Southeast Oklahoma and the panhandle will receive funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bring high-speed Internet to rural communities.

Lawmakers also approved a $15 million grant program to improve local mental health options for children and families.

Texas has had trouble getting a state of 30 million residents online for years — even before the pandemic put a spotlight on poor broadband development.

States, local governments and internet providers have until Friday, Jan. 13 to challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map. The map shows where service is and isn’t across the country.

Installing fiber-optic internet in sparsely populated places like western Kansas is extremely expensive, even with government subsidies. But some smaller, local broadband providers are finding ways to make it work where the big national companies have not.

Small towns far from big cities rely upon federal grants to help them, but numerous definitions of what the government considers rural make that complicated.