Institute for Local Self-Reliance

At least 100,000 San Francisco residents lack adequate Internet access and miss out on economic and educational benefits. A new model -- developed by Monkeybrains, a local Internet service provider (ISP), and the city of San Francisco -- successfully bridges this digital divide for public housing residents. Thanks to low start-up and maintenance costs, the solution will be financially self-sustaining for years to come. If you want to get a program like this going in your city, here are key points:

Local communities in the state of Mississippi have the legal authority to develop publicly owned Internet networks and offer broadband, or any other utility, to the general public. When it comes to bonding in order to financing deployment for broadband infrastructure, however, the law isn’t as cut and dry. In order to stay on the right side of the law, the community of Columbus (MS) decided to obtain permission from the state legislature to issue bonds for a $2.75 million expansion of their existing fiber optic network.

For several years now, Tacoma (WA) has pondered the fate of its Click! municipal open access network. In the spring of 2018, the community issued an RFI/Q searching for interested private sector partners that would lease the network from the Tacoma Power Utility (TPU). After reviewing responses, consulting experts, and comparing potential arrangements, Tacoma has narrowed the field of possible partners. The goal is to put the network on a sustainable and competitive footing both financially and technologically. Tacoma is following a path that will retain public ownership of the Click!

In Oct, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly accused municipal networks, including Chattanooga’s EPB Fiber Optics, of violating the First Amendment by limiting subscribers free speech. Journalists and organizations who know better were quick to correct him. In a Dec 13, 2018 blog post, he lashed out at his critics and tried to defend or explain his earlier comments, but once again missed the mark.

Recent tax code changes might prevent co-ops from connecting more rural communities. Cooperatives could potentially lose their tax exempt status if they accept government grants for broadband expansion and disaster recovery — an unintended yet foreseeable consequence of the Republican “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” passed late in 2017.