Broadband roundup: Funds flow, but poor access maps may put it in wrong places; supply-chain issues delay updates

New federal broadband funding will be much needed and much welcomed in rural America, Jim Muchlinski writes for the Marshall Independent in Minnesota. Though many Americans believe private enterprise should lead rural expansion, he says it's not often cost-effective, so federal funding and incentives make a decisive difference in modernizing rural areas.

However, a lot of state and federal money may not go where it needs to go because the Federal Communications Commission's broadband-access maps are often inaccurate. That's partly because they rely on self-reported data from telecoms with a financial incentive to overstate their rural reach, John Hendel reports for Politico.

Rural internet carriers, scrambling to replace Huawei and ZTE gear, now face supply chain delays, Jodi Xu Klein reports for Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. Rural carriers have disproportionately relied on the companies' tech because it's much cheaper. In May 2019 the FCC banned use of equipment from "foreign adversaries." That included Huawei, ZTE and similar Chinese companies, which left rural telecoms scrambling to figure out their next move.

The FCC is distributing $1.9 billion to help mostly rural carriers replace Huawei and ZTE equipment, but it might not be enough, Jon Gold reports for NetworkWorld.

Farmer-owned cooperative Land O'Lakes is trying to facilitate rural broadband expansion by working with private organizations and government agencies. Land O'Lakes' chief technology officer recently discussed what the company is doing and why it matters in a recent webcast with eWeek, a site for internet technology professionals. Watch it here. The Appalachian Regional Commission published a report detailing trends in Appalachian computer and broadband access. Read it here.