During a webinar with state and territory single points of contact (SPOCs), FirstNet received more than 400 questions about its request for proposal for the network buildout, said a blog post from Director-Outreach Amanda Hilliard. She said the webinar focused on: a recap of the Southeast Public Safety Broadband Summit; an update on the RFP; consultation task teams; and the spring in-person SPOC meeting April 12 and 13. Most of the questions about the RFP were administrative or technical in nature, Hilliard said, including questions about deadlines and page counts. FirstNet plans a pre-proposal conference March 10, and proposals are due May 13, she said. FirstNet also discussed the establishing consultation task teams in each state and territory, she said. Those teams will cover quality of service, priority and pre-emption and enable subject matter experts from each state and territory to inform the network’s policies, FirstNet said.

Windstream plans to invest $38 million this year to improve Internet speeds, said a Wednesday news release from the company. Throughout the year, Windstream will deploy technology with new capabilities, including software that extends faster speeds further in the network, the telco said. In addition to improved network reliability and speeds, about 20 percent of customers in Georgia can get Internet speeds of up to 100 Mbps, it said.

Iowa's enhanced 911 system needs better management, the state's auditor said in a report released Tuesday. The audit shows weaknesses in the tracking of more than $120 million spent each year to run the state's E-911 system and concludes that part of the problem is the way the system is funded and tracked. The audit also shows E-911 systems spent $122.6 million in 2013 and $124.5 million in 2014. About 57 percent of the money went to pay administrative costs and personnel. Radio systems were the second-highest expense, the audit shows.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn should continue working to make sure residents of Laredo, Texas, and Mount Vernon, New York, are protected if Charter Communications' planned buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable go through, town officials told her, according to an ex parte filing in docket 15-49. The towns want to ensure residents have continued access to an affordable Internet access service at a speed sufficient to meet today’s needs, they told Clyburn. The communities also want a program to offer low-income residents a discounted video services tier, they said. The parties referenced the New York Public Service Commission's approval of the deal as an example of conditions (see 1601270028) that the FCC should apply to the combined entities.

Southern Telecom reached agreement with Georgia Transmission Corp. for a new fiber route between Winder, Georgia, and Hartwell, Georgia, Southern Telecom said in a news release Tuesday. The 75-mile underground fiber route will expand the dark fiber network infrastructure for Southern Telecom's customers, it said.

An RCN Internet service outage in Manhattan Monday was caused by a power problem, not a fiber cut, as originally reported by the company on its Twitter page, a company spokeswoman told us Tuesday. While the company didn't have specific numbers for how many customers were affected by the outage, she told us it was reported around 7 p.m. Monday and technicians restored the Internet service "shortly after."

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced the launch of the New NY Broadband Program’s Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) Portal, which is now accepting applications for the request for proposals issued Jan. 8, said a Tuesday news release from the governor's office. The $500 million program will provide funding for high-speed Internet access to unserved and underserved areas across the state, the release said. Funding recipients will be chosen through a reverse-auction methodology, which awards projects to bidders seeking the lowest amount of state investment, the release said. Phase 1 of the RFP's grant guidelines and application questions was made available on the New York State Broadband Program Office’s website on Jan. 8. Applications may now be submitted through the New York State CFA Portal, and are due by 4:30 p.m. April 15, the release said. “Access to high-speed internet is essential for engaging in the 21st century economy, but the broadband gap is leaving far too many New Yorkers behind,” Cuomo said. “Through this unprecedented investment, we will be expanding reliable internet access in underserved areas, helping businesses become more competitive, and making broadband available in every comer of New York. I encourage all eligible applicants to apply and take advantage of this new opportunity.”

Deaf residents and the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed a lawsuit last week in Arizona federal court seeking direct access to 911 services through text, said a post on the NAD website. The lawsuit seeks to make 911 services in Arizona accessible to individuals with a disability, including individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Few 911 centers around the country comply with federal law requiring them to be accessible to individuals with a disability, NAD said. "911 is a critical life-saving program that should be accessible to everyone without exception," said CEO Howard Rosenblum in the post. "With nearly everyone using text, there is no excuse for 911 not to be directly accessible by text.”

Google Fiber is disappointed AT&T has gone to court in an effort to block Louisville, Kentucky's, efforts to increase broadband and video competition (see 1602260043), Google said on its Google Fiber Blog Friday. "One Touch Make Ready" policies reduce cost, disruption and delay by allowing the work needed to prepare a utility pole for new fiber to be attached in as little as a single visit -- which means more safety for drivers and the neighborhood, the blog said. The work would be done by a team of contractors the pole owner itself has approved, instead of having multiple crews from multiple companies working on the same pole over weeks or months, Google said. In response to the lawsuit, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer was quoted as saying, "We will vigorously defend the lawsuit filed today by AT&T. Gigabit fiber is too important to our city's future." "Mayor Fischer, we couldn’t agree with you more, and stand with you," Google said in its post.

AT&T reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in Mobility contract negotiations in CWA District 6 (AT&T's Southwest region), AT&T said in a Sunday news release. They agreed Friday to a 48-hour contract extension, it said. The agreement, which will be submitted to the union's membership for a ratification vote this week, was reached prior to expiration of the extended contract Sunday, AT&T said. It covers more than 9,400 Mobility employees in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, it said.