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CenturyLink is accepting $35 million from the FCC's Connect America Fund. The donation will go towards helping the telecommunications company connect around 45,000 homes in rural locations to the Internet, as part of an FCC plan to roll out high-speed connections to areas not typically covered by broadband providers due to prohibitive associated costs.
A report issued today by the Federal Communications Commission shows broadband speeds in the U.S. are now significantly closer to what Internet service providers advertise than they were in 2009. The report found that actual download speeds provided by the majority of U.S. broadband providers were within 80 percent or better of companies' advertised speeds. In 2009, download speeds were more often around 50 percent of the advertised rate.
The Kansas State Senate on Wednesday passed a bill sponsored by AT&T that would remove rate caps on landline services. Senate Bill 72 will let phone companies set rates to their liking and is expected to lead to increases to the basic dial-tone service, which costs between $15.50 and $16.50 a month before taxes and fees. The House also approved the bill in a voice vote.
Google on Wednesday made its pick for the Google Fiber project today and said it would first roll out the 1Gbps Internet access in Kansas City, Kansas. The city was picked out of fierce competition from about 1,100 candidates. Google already had a development agreement in place and would be working with local firms and institutions to roll it out.
Telecom giant CenturyLink has purchased Qwest, the two companies announced on Thursday. The tax-free, stock-for-stock deal is worth nearly $10.5 billion, but burdens CenturyLink with Qwest's $11.8 billion in debt. The new company will have 17 million lines and about 6.2 million Internet, video and wireless subscribers.
