Cooperatives Embrace Fiber Broadband: ILSR Finds 87 Cooperative Gigabit Deployments Nationwide

Telecommunications and electric cooperatives are playing an important role in bringing high-speed broadband to rural America, according to a new report from the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). Using FCC data, researchers identified 87 cooperative gigabit deployments as of December 2016. The majority of the nation’s 260 telecom cooperatives have deployed fiber-to-the-home.  About 60 of the nation’s 900 electric cooperatives have deployed fiber, and that number is growing fast. “Cooperatives have quietly proved that they can build fiber-to-the-home networks that are capable of speeds of more than 1 gigabit per second,” the report authors said.