YAS Foundation, the Boston-based organization with ties to cable broadband pioneer Rouzbeh Yassini, is providing a $1 million, seven-year grant to the University of New Hampshire’s Broadband Center of Excellence (BCoE).
The grant will help the Center expand on research efforts aimed at enabling universal and affordable broadband service worldwide in partnership with government entities, universities, researchers communities and corporations.
The BCoE was established in 2013 with leadership help from Yassini, a DOCSIS technology pioneer who is known in industry circles as the “father of the cable modem,” NCTA Vanguard Award winner, member of the Cable Television Pioneers, and is the author of Planet Broadband. Yassini, the founder and CEO of YAS Capital Partners, is also the BCoE’s executive director. The YAS Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Yassini family.
The funds provided by the YAS Foundation will be used to support the BCoE’s focus on areas such as affordable broadband, practical app and services for smart cities, and new research on broadband tech aimed at helping to “maintain our nation’s competitive status globally.
“The BCoE has developed an aggressive list of objectives for the coming year that will serve to expand broadband availability in New Hampshire and elsewhere, and help extend broadband to those who are unserved or underserved,” said Jan Nisbet, UNH senior vice provost for research, in a statement.
“In stark terms, having more than four billion global citizens without adequate access to broadband and the economic lifeblood it provides is truly disheartening,” added Yassini. “We want to seek out like-minded thought leaders and collaborate to achieve the large economic successes that ubiquitous broadband will provide.”
