Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Blair Levin joins the Community Broadband Networks Podcast to unpack what 2025 delivered and what 2026 may hold for broadband, media, and technology policy.

Something remarkable happened in Western Massachusetts in 2018. Over the course of just four months that year, two new municipal fiber networks lit up in tiny towns in the leastdensely populated part of the state. In 2019, three more small towns in the region brought networks online. The next year, seven more communities followed suit. Another seven joined them the following year. Over the course of just four years, 19 towns launched municipal broadband networks, bringing ubiquitous, high-speed Internet access to their communities.

Legal analysts are questioning the recent assertion by National Telecommunications and Information Administration head Arielle Roth that the NTIA can legally withhold federal broadband deployment funds from states that have laws enforcing net neutrality or that have enacted affordable broadband legislation similar to New York’s Affordable Broadband Act.

Jade Piros de Carvalho discusses the cascading impact of President Trump’s decision to cancel the Digital Equity Act. This sudden move threatens not just digital inclusion programs, but the very foundation of state broadband offices—and by extension, the success of the $42.5 billion BEAD infrastructure program. With broadband office funding models built on a delicate web of interconnected federal grants, Piros de Carvalho explains why pulling one thread puts everything at risk.

Digital inclusion organizations are reeling after the Trump administration announced the Digital Equity Act grant programs, embedded in the bipartisan infrastructure law, was being cancelled months after federal grants had already been reviewed and awarded. The Wiscasset, Maine-based National Digital Equity Center was one of 65 organizations and public entities

The reasons why municipalities and cooperatives build community-owned broadband networks are numerous, often fueled by years of frustration with the spotty, expensive service offered by the big monopoly incumbents.

Communities looking to leverage American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for broadband or other local infrastructure need to act soon or risk losing access to a once-in-a-generation funding resource. Most ARPA recipients seem well aware of the deadline, but data suggests more than a few communities could drop the ball. The Treasury Department tracks allotted ARPA awards and projected budget plans via a massive database.

After two years enmeshed in the work of coalition-building, speed test data collection, and pushing state leaders to invest in better telecommunication infrastructure across Oakland’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, digital equity advocates in the East Bay city are finally seeing the fruits of their labor pay off.