Local/Municipal

States and localities find themselves in a historic moment in relation to broadband investment.

Christine Hallquist was well-qualified to serve as the Executive Director of the Vermont broadband office when Governor Phil Scott appointed her to the position in 2021.

Imagine transforming your community’s lighting grid into a high-bandwidth communication network, extending coverage, and enhancing connectivity across neighborhoods and business parks. The Brightening Connected Communities with Innovation Pilot Project will identify and test a mix of community partners. Selected projects will demonstrate novel use cases of Signify’s BrightSites technology to increase connectivity and help solve public safety, public connectivity, and transportation challenges.

In Vermont, a thinly-populated rural state, private providers have often shown little interest in investing in broadband improvements.

As society continues to expand our digital universe, the development of broadband infrastructure has never been more vital. The permitting processes required by federal, state, and local agencies play a crucial role in ensuring that broadband projects meet regulatory standards and serve the public interest.

In the fourth installment of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation’s Access America series, Jess talks to Brian Allenby, program operations and communications director for the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA). They chat about the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, Maine's digital equity intensive approach, and how the state has been promoting regional broadband plans and activity. "The Regional Tribal Broadband Partners were convened as a working group to share information at what was happening at that local level.

People with disabilities regularly face accessibility challenges while using government websites. Solving these challenges has become more urgent, for two reasons. First, COVID-19 pushed more of life online, and it is often easier now to do business digitally than in person. Second, the U.S.

I’m here today to urge you—city officials, business leaders, educators, digital equity advocates and city residents—to consider moving forward on building a city-wide, city-owned broadband network.  I was asked by a Texas Public Radio reporter a few days ago whether now was the right time, and I said—it’s past time. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it was that affordable, high speed broadband Internet access is essential for full participation in our society, our economy, our education and health care systems, and our democracy.

There are a lot of regulations other than the ones created by or enforced by the Federal Communications Council. Anybody who builds fiber networks can describe the litany of state and local regulations involved in constructing fiber. Following are some of the primary kinds of such regulations—and there are others in some places:

The third grant program funded by the Digital Equity Act of 2021 is the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program. This information can guide organizations as they Get Ready to prepare their applications. The grant's purpose is to create the conditions where individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States. Allowable uses of grant awards include: