Tech Tidbits From Around NH

Consolidated Communications says work is underway on a project that will bring gigabit, fiber internet services to residents and businesses in the Keene area starting this month. The service will be available to some 9,000 households this summer and a total of 16,000 by the end of the year. For more information, visit consolidated.com/Keene.

Q Link Wireless has begun providing subsidized phone and broadband service to qualified residents in 16 more states, including New Hampshire, through a $3.2 billion Federal Communication Commission program. The Emergency Broadband Benefit was begun May 12 and is a limited-time program created by the FCC that provides discounts on monthly broadband Internet access service and certain connected devices.

Through the program, Q Link said, eligible customers receive free and unlimited data, talk and text as well as a new tablet. The benefit is open to households that participate in current low-income or pandemic relief programs offered by a broadband provider; recipients of Medicaid and SNAP benefits; households with kids receiving free and reduced-price lunch or school breakfast; Pell grant recipients; and those who have lost jobs and seen their income reduced in the last year.

Base10 Partners has raised a new $250 million fund, called the Advancement Initiative, that will be investing in pre-IPO startups, and donating 50% of the fund’s carried interest directly to historically Black colleges and universities to create student scholarships and support university endowments.

The fund has already completed eight investments into Attentive, Nubank, Brex, Plaid, Aurora Solar, Wealthsimple, CircleCI, and KeepTruckin. Among the partners in the Advancement Initiative is Southern New Hampshire University.