Local/Municipal

Data centers are expanding into rural America. At a May 11, 2026 event hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, expert practitioners and researchers explored data center expansion in rural communities, including topics such as:

• potential economic costs and benefits of data center development;
• workforce opportunities and skilled labor considerations;
• regional competitiveness and community preparation strategies; and
• real-world perspectives from communities experiencing this trend.

[May 11, 2026]

Throughout my career—as an educator, school board member, volunteer firefighter, fire chief, and community leader—I have learned that every important investment we make is ultimately an investment in people. Broadband is no different. It is not simply about technology. It is about opportunity. It is about whether a child has the same educational opportunities regardless of where they live, whether a volunteer firefighter has access to life-saving training, whether a family can connect to healthcare, and whether a rural community can participate fully in Pennsylvania's future.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently made a ruling that could end up eliminating one of the biggest rights-of-way issues that slow down fiber construction projects. In the case of CSX Transportation v. Zayo Group, LLC, the court ruled that the easement that CSX owns for its railroad tracks only applies to the surface of the Earth and that the railroad right-of-way does not extend either above or below the tracks.

The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program will fund construction of broadband infrastructure to unserved and underserved locations across the United States. But before construction can begin, internet service providers must first clear federal environmental and historic-preservation review, including National Environmental Policy Act, and then navigate a broader thicket of environmental, cultural, land-use, right-of-way, easement, and jurisdictional permitting requirements.

The City of Westerville (OH) and altafiber have formed a public-private partnership to bring a multigig fiber network to the community without the city spending capital dollars on the infrastructure. Under the public-private partnership, altafiber will establish a long-term presence at WeConnect, the city-owned data center, allowing it to serve local customers while opening a new revenue stream for the municipal facility.

On May 21, 2026, the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy convened the Universal Broadband Summit, bringing together state broadband officials, industry associations, academics, local government organizations, union representatives, and civil society. Across the board, Summit participants agreed that online connectivity is necessary for full participation in modern society, and that its benefits extend beyond individual households to a more engaged electorate, a more educated public, and a more productive economy.

Fiber deployment is often discussed in terms of funding, labor, technology, and demand. But for many projects, the biggest delays happen in much smaller, more specific places: a railroad crossing, a bridge, a right-of-way agreement, a permit, or a complication that no one expected until the project was already underway. This Fiber for Breakfast focuses on one of the least glamorous but most important parts of broadband deployment: knowing how to navigate the right-of-way and permitting issues that can slow projects down, drive up costs, and in some cases, stop them altogether.

The widespread decline of local news is not merely a cultural or democratic crisis.

Rep Addison McDowell (R-NC-06) introduced the Broadband Infrastructure Extension Act. This legislation would extend expenditure deadlines for certain broadband infrastructure projects funded through the American Rescue Plan Act.

On June 25, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would, for the first time, set nationwide limits on how much time state and local governments may take to approve wireline telecommunications deployments (networks delivered over physical lines such as fiber-optic, copper, or coaxial cable) in public rights-of-way and how much they may charge for that access. The proposals would reach state and local governments at every level that issue permits, right-of-way agreements, or pole attachment approvals for fiber and other wireline