Nat’l Telecom and Information Admin (NTIA) Announces "priority funding" for Safer Fiber Optics to the Premises Projects

By B.N. Frank

According to a lawsuit filed against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by a group of telecom experts, Americans have already paid for telecom-related services that many have still not received including fiber optics to the premises (FTTP) for high-speed broadband. Nevertheless, American federal and state government agencies and legislators had continued – until now – to give billions more to telecom companies (see 1, 2, 3, 4) which they have been using to primarily deploy inferior, unreliable, and unsafe and Wi-Fi and 5G on land and in space for broadband connections instead of safer, more secure, and more reliable FTTP and copper landline connections.

Thanks to Americans for Responsible Technology for including in its recent newsletter that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced it will now give “priority funding” for FTTP projects:

Dear friends,

Finally, a little good news for a change. This week the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is overseeing the expenditure of $42.5 billion in federal funds to increase broadband availability, announced that “priority funding” will be given to projects that provide fiber optic connections from end to end – all the way to the user’s premises!

This is great news, and demonstrates that even the U. S. government recognizes that fixed wireless broadband is old, slow, unreliable, and expensive technology that is not the solution to the digital divide or our rural broadband access problem! Read the official announcement here. (See page 14).

Decades of research has determined that wireless radiation – including 5G – is biologically and environmentally harmful (see 1, 2, 3, 4).

In fact, last year, a federal court ruled in favor of organizations and petitioners that sued the FCC for NOT adequately protecting Americans from wireless radiation exposure from Wi-Fi, 5G, and other sources. Despite this ruling, the FCC (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) as well as other government and state agencies and committees (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) have continued to promote and fund the deployment and densification of both 5G and 4G cell towers and other wireless infrastructure. The NTIA announcement is a step in the right direction for municipalities that want to do better by their constituents by demanding FTTP for high-speed broadband.