September 2, 2021 – The California Department of Technology today announced that the State of California has retained CENIC California Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative, LLC as the California Middle-Mile Broadband Network Third-Party Administrator (TPA).

“California is bridging the digital divide by facilitating equitable, affordable access to high-speed internet service throughout the state,” said Amy Tong, Director, California Department of Technology. “CENIC California MMBI has the experience and reach to deliver an open-access middle-mile broadband network throughout the state.”

Governor Newsom and the state legislature partnered on a historic $6 billion multi-year investment that will give more Californians access to broadband coverage. The legislation provides $3.25 billion over the next three years to build an open access, middle-mile network made of high-capacity optical fiber that carries large amounts of data at high speeds over long distances between local networks and the global Internet.

As the TPA, CENIC California MMBI is the partner responsible for developing the fiber network, creating rural exchange points, and collaborating with the California Public Utilities Commission and Caltrans.

“We are honored to be a part of the most ambitious state digital equity effort in the history of the public Internet,” said Louis Fox, President of CENIC California MMBI. “The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how access to broadband is now a social determinant of health, education, work, and economic security. Our goal, in partnership with the state, is to ensure that every community – rural, urban, tribal – has access to broadband technologies and to do this work with alacrity.”

[Read the full press release at CENIC | News]

Lubbock, Texas (August 24, 2021) – Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Akbar Kara, Bill Hetherington, and Hatch Smith, Jr. to the Governor’s Broadband Development Council (GBDC) for terms set to expire on August 31, 2026. The GBDC was established in 2019 in order to study and identify ways to provide Internet to underserved areas of Texas. The council’s duties include: research the progress of broadband development in unserved areas; identify barriers to residential and commercial broadband deployment in unserved areas; study technology neutral solutions to overcome barriers identified under Subdivision; and analyze how statewide access to broadband would benefit economic development; the delivery of educational opportunities in higher education and public education; state and local law enforcement; state emergency preparedness; and the delivery of health care services, including telemedicine and telehealth.

I am truly humbled by this opportunity to serve my fellow Texans in rural and underserved
regions – Akbar Kara, President and CEO of LEARN.

Read the full announcement from Governor Abbott’s office.

Since 2008, a collaboration between Oklahoma’s higher education institutions and OneNet has led to $11 million in research funding, providing cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources for research computing and data to 17 Oklahoma colleges and universities. CI resources include technology systems that offer advanced capabilities for powerful data computing over the internet.

The OneOklahoma Cyberinfrastructure Initiative (OneOCII) is a statewide collaboration to expand CI resources and share expertise and education among academic organizations.

OneOCII began in 2008 when Oklahoma won a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for research infrastructure improvements. Since then Oklahoma institutions have received 18 CI grant awards. The awards have funded projects ranging from supercomputers to deploying a dedicated high-speed research network across the state. [Read the full article at OneNet | News]