Municipal Networks

California’s Broadband Fund Ignores Fiber and Favors Slow DSL

The California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), a program launched in 2008 to connect all Californians to high-speed Internet, was an early success. It helped build middle mile open access fiber to hard-to-serve communities and delivered high-speed access to areas that never had Internet. It funded fiber-to-the-home to public housing, ensuring low income users had the same high-speed access that wealthy neighborhoods had. And it was rapidly closing the digital divide that low income urban and rural Californians faced, due to years of neglect from incumbent Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Waterloo, Cedar Falls Utilities fear new broadband rules in Iowa

Cities with their own broadband utilities and those looking to start them are hoping to disconnect Iowa statehouse proposals restricting their operation. A bill introduced in the Iowa Senate could prevent existing municipal communications utilities from offering discounted or competitive rates. It also would limit financing options for cities working to build their own fiber networks to provide internet, television and phone service to residents.

How a new model can expand broadband access across communities

City Utilities, Springfield's (MO) city-owned electric utility, recently announced plans to expand its fiber optic network to every home in the city and lease excess fiber—on a nonexclusive basis—to the internet service provider (ISP) CenturyLink. CenturyLink, in turn, will offer high-speed fiber broadband services citywide and pay for marketing and customer service costs.

The Cost of Connectivity in Ammon, Idaho

Municipal broadband networks can have a positive impact on their communities. Municipal networks, often managed and operated fully or partially by local governments, exhibit a high level of responsiveness to consumer needs and lower prices than larger internet service providers such as AT&T and Comcast.

Massachusetts Pursues Its Own Route to Broadband Expansion

Conventional wisdom says a town with less than 200 people wouldn’t have the resources to establish and maintain high-speed Internet for its residents. But Mount Washington, located in Berkshire County (MA) contradicted such wisdom in Nov 2017 when it activated its municipal fiber broadband service.  From one angle, the case of Mount Washington is a miracle.

We Need Broadband Internet for All

Nearly half of Americans do not have an internet connection that meets minimum broadband speeds. Moreover, a staggering number of poor people of color do not have home internet access of any kind. And, across the board, Americans are charged some of the highest prices for internet service in the developed world. These are all symptoms of a much larger, structural problem: the corporate capture of the pipes, wires, and other infrastructure that powers the internet.

Can the Digital Divide Finally be Bridged?

Frustrated with limited deployments, high prices and slow speeds, some municipalities have decided to take matters into their own hands, installing community networks through muni-fiber. Some cities are installing a conduit system with dark fiber, which gives them the choice to lease to broadband providers or switch to a municipal network in the future. A low-cost, low-risk option, the system allows ISPs to place and maintain their own fiber-optic cables. The city manages the asset leasing and creates an open platform for local provider competition.

2020 Trend: Gig City's second decade will deliver more speed, innovation

The $226.8 million investment American electric power and telecommunications company EPB launched in 2009 on fiber optic technology has helped to transform EPB and Chattanooga (TN). By boasting the fastest citywide internet service in the Western Hemisphere with Gig service in 2010 and 10 Gig service by 2015, EPB secured Chattanooga's claim as "the Gig City" and has helped anchor the Innovation District, with many businesses developed or drawn to Chattanooga by the fast internet links. High-speed connections from EPB helped attract and grow such online startups as the moving service Bellhop

Why Gov Cuomo shot down a bill to study municipal broadband

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) vetoed a bill which would have directed the state to study whether a state-owned and operated internet service would be feasible in New York. Gov Cuomo said it was “well-intentioned” but that it would be too expensive to complete. Still, Gov Cuomo suggested that he isn’t opposed to the idea of municipal broadband. The governor said in Dec 2019 that he and lawmakers might revisit the idea of a feasibility study on municipal broadband in early 2020.

Gov Cuomo Vetoes Bill To Study Municipal Broadband Programs

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY)  quietly vetoed A.2037, which passed the state Assembly 120-26 during the last legislative session. The legislation was sponsored in the Assembly by Aileen Gunther (D-Monticello) and would have required the state Public Service Commission to study the feasibility of a municipal broadband program in New York state. Assemblyman Andrew Goodell (R-Jamestown) was among the 26 votes against the study. On the floor of the Assembly, Assemblyman Goodell said the study is premature in the wake of Gov.

High-Speed Internet for All

High-speed internet service must be treated as the new electricity — a public utility that everyone deserves as a basic human right. The internet as we know it was developed by taxpayer-funded research, using taxpayer-funded grants in taxpayer-funded labs.

Small communities increasingly see municipal broadband as a means to drive economic growth

Municipal broadband networks, an idea that some in the cable business believe looks a lot better on paper than in practice, may be on the verge of a breakthrough.

Victory over telecom industry gives Connecticut towns a way to provide their own faster, cheaper internet service

The telecommunications industry lost and consumers won in a Connecticut Superior Court decision that gives cities and towns the right to use existing utility infrastructure within their borders to create municipal networks that deliver cheap, fast internet service to homes and businesses.

Consolidated: Public-Private Broadband Partnerships are Key to Rural Broadband Strategy

NH legislators in 2019 passed a law allowing municipalities to fund broadband networks through bond offerings – and that action already is spurring broadband deployment in sparsely populated areas of the state. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this is Consolidated Communications. Consolidated is already offering service on a new network in Chesterfield (NH) that was paid for, in part, by Consolidated and, in part, by the city.

Waterloo, Iowa, Contemplates Its Broadband Choices

Recently, the Waterloo (IA) City Council voted unanimously to use $84,500 in general obligation bond money for a broadband feasibility study conducted by Magellan Advisors. The study’s goal is to help Waterloo determine the practicality of a city-owned broadband system versus other options, such as a service based on a public-private partnership model. As this and other arguments over how best to make broadband available in Waterloo continues, there may be lessons emerging from the situation for connectivity efforts in communities nationwide.

Democratic Presidential Candidate Tom Steyer Proposes $135 Billion for Rural Broadband

As part of his just-announced "Partnership with Rural Communities," Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer has proposed a massive rural broadband connectivity program that includes $135 billion in investment and "protecting" municipal and co-op broadband networks. "The modern economy is a knowledge economy," Steyer's plan points out. "Full participation in commerce depends on reliable, fast, affordable access to the Internet.

Jonathan Sallet on the Need to Reset U.S. Broadband Policy

Benton Senior Fellow Jonathan Sallet called for a new national broadband agenda. Over the past year, Jon has been talking to broadband leaders around the country, asking about who’s currently connected and who’s not. You can read Jon’s findings in Broadband for America’s Future: A Vision for the 2020s. Jon delivered the keynote address at the Broadband Communities conference in Virginia on Wednesday.

Broadband Can Alleviate the Health-Care Crisis

There’s a health-care crisis in the country and it’s hitting rural areas particularly hard. The US could face a shortage of 95,000 physicians by 2025, according to a recent report from the Association of American Medical Colleges. But health care’s physician distribution problem, with too many doctors in urban areas and not enough in rural locations, could be alleviated by community broadband.

The city with the best fiber-optic network in America might surprise you

The American city with the most sophisticated fiber network is Ammon, Idaho, population 16,500. The city offers residents performance, pricing, and options that inhabitants of a metropolis dominated by one or two internet service providers can only dream of. Ammon is a true local network, where residents own the fiber and providers compete to serve them. “If you were to ask me what the key component of Ammon is, I would say it’s a broadband infrastructure as a utility,” says Bruce Patterson, Ammon’s technology director and one of the key drivers behind the network.

Denver council members eye broader broadband to address internet inequities

Some Denver City Council members want to explore the city's options for providing internet access to residents who don't have connections. But first, they need to get  permission from voters to take stock of those opportunities, says City Councilman Paul Kashmann.

Anacortes, Washington, is building a public broadband network. Is it a model for bridging digital divide?

Anacortes (WA) will join a growing cohort of cities, dissatisfied enough with the private sector, that have decided to offer internet service as a public utility. Officials in Anacortes have spent the past few years researching how to become an internet provider, creating a plan, and building the infrastructure necessary. This month, the city plans to pilot service in three areas.

Municipal Fiber Networks Power Digital Inclusion Programs

Digital inclusion is the practice of ensuring digital equity, a condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy. To succeed, digital inclusion practitioners must address the many barriers to digital equity, including unaffordable broadband subscriptions, lack of access to devices, and insufficient digital skills. Communities with publicly owned networks are well-positioned to develop digital inclusion initiatives.

Where The 2020 Presidential Candidates Stand On Broadband Issues

Broadband is emerging as a critical campaign issue for the US 2020 presidential election, and there’s good reason: nearly 60 million people in the US do not have broadband service at home. Despite this staggering fact, only four of the 14 presidential candidates we looked at have released fleshed-out policy proposals to expand broadband access (all of them democrats). On the Democratic side, broadband has become a central piece to many rural revitalization plans but as mentioned, only four candidates have released detailed broadband proposals.

What Are the Economic Effects of Municipal Broadband?

Does municipal broadband stimulate broadband adoption or employment growth? I conduct an empirical study of American towns that have built municipal networks to answer this question. Using data from the FCC’s Form 477 and the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, I track broadband deployment, adoption, and employment statistics for these towns from 2013 to 2017. A town’s decision to install a municipal network in the first place is not random, however.