Municipal Networks

Why Broadband Should Be a Utility

Fiber cities know the difference between publicly overseen networks, aimed at providing a utility service, and wholly private, “demand-driven” communications networks. There is no single meaning of the word utility, but the concept is familiar to many people. The basic idea is that a utility is a service that 1) relies on a physical network of some kind and 2) is a basic input into both domestic and economic life. A utility is not a luxury.

The anti-competitive forces that foil speedy, affordable broadband

From Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Santa Monica, California, hundreds of communities in the U.S. have been able to provide consumers and businesses with affordable broadband over locally owned and controlled fiber and coaxial networks. But San Francisco, the epicenter of the digital revolution, can’t match the success of these smaller municipalities, many with far fewer resources and civic wealth. San Francisco is not alone.

For Tacoma, Broadband Competition is Just a Click! Away

The City of Tacoma (WA) is engaged in an effort to ensure that our public broadband network, Click!, continues to support our community well for decades to come. My colleagues and I recognize that we, like all American cities, stand on the front lines of efforts to achieve equity and opportunity. And, as broadband internet becomes a more critical foundational element of our economy and a vital tool for democratic engagement, our efforts must extend to ensuring it is deployed in a way that supports our efforts.

Baltimore City Council considers blocking any future sale of city's conduit system, possibly to encourage public broadband system

The Baltimore (MD) City Council is considering asking voters to block the sale of Baltimore’s 700-mile, century-old underground conduit system, a move supporters say could encourage a public broadband system in the future. The terra cotta system dates to 1898 and contains telephone, electric and fiber-optic cables. Owning the system leaves open the possibly for the city to create a public broadband network. Council President Bernard C.

A broadband agenda for the (eventual) infrastructure bill

What should be the broadband agenda for infrastructure legislation? Here are some key principles.

Technology Strategies for Municipal Fiber Broadband

Despite the tremendous innovation in fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks over the last decade, growing bandwidth demands from households and enterprise business applications are likely to exceed today’s Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON) network capacity levels in the near future.

Municipal broadband internet: The next public utility?

Municial broadband initiatives across the country seem to be gaining steam as cities look to encourage equitable access — but pitfalls around cost and taxpayer risk remain. Despite many cities and counties looking to put together a municipal broadband initiative of their own, there remains strong opposition from telecom companies, as well as concerns over cost.

Mississippi electric co-ops look into funding opportunities to provide internet service

In Jan, Gov Phil Bryant (R-MS) signed off on a bill by the Mississippi Legislature that gave  approval for electric cooperatives in the state to provide broadband internet service. The Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act, however, was just the first step. The co-ops must now find ways to fund such projects.  Michael Callahan, CEO of Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi, said getting the co-ops to expand into internet service will be a “tough process.” “We’re doing our due diligence,” he said. “We’re all looking at this, spending money on surveys, doing studies, talking to consultants ...

Georgia Senate passes small-cell wireless broadband bill

The Georgia state senate unanimously passed a bill Feb 25 aimed at making it easier for telecommunications companies to extend small-cell wireless broadband, the latest iteration of the technology, along public rights of way. Meanwhile, separate bills allowing Georgia's electric membership corporations to enter the broadband business, aimed primarily to increase broadband capacity in rural counties, also has cleared the House and won approval in a Senate committee.

How local government gets in the way of better, faster, and cheaper broadband

Many complain about the price of cable, but few realize that key culprits can be state and local franchising authorities (LFAs), whose taxes, fees, and surcharges on top of the basic price can account for 20 percent or more of the total price. Operators need to secure a franchise agreement to build and run cable service, and that can entail acceding to all types of demands from LFAs over and above the franchise fees that operators have to pay under federal law.

China Will Likely Corner the 5G Market -- And the US Has No Plan

China is planning to deploy fiber-optic connections to 80 percent of the homes in the country. What’s new about China's massive deployment of fiber, both in its own territory and in its global market along its planned Belt and Road, is that China is likely to permit only 5G equipment made by Huawei and a handful of other Chinese companies to connect to that fiber. China, not America, will be the place where new online services are born. Although the US came up with the idea of the internet, we don't have a sandbox to play in, a giant market in which to test new high-capacity services.

As Buffalo's internet speeds rank among slowest in US, consumers can't do much

City politicians and technology leaders pitch Buffalo (NY) as a nascent tech hub, envisioning a rosy future where every child owns a laptop and geeks flock downtown with their edgy startups. But the city may face a major obstacle before this grand vision even gets off the ground: Its internet speeds rank among the country’s slowest, according to two separate analyses by The Buffalo News and the technology firm Ookla. Ookla’s Dec internet-speed report ranked Buffalo’s speeds fifth-last, ahead of only Cleveland (OH), Toledo (OH), Memphis (TN), and Laredo (TX).

Rural Electric Cooperatives: The Digital Divide’s Salvation

Rural electric cooperatives (RECs) have some specific characteristics that make them uniquely qualified to undertake significant and meaningful strides in conquering the digital divide. Beyond their community focus, RECs possess important skills and assets that make expansion into broadband very favorable. Those skills and assets include:

Sponsor: 

Next Century Cities, the Coalition for Local Internet Choice, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and the National League of Cities

Date: 
Wed, 02/20/2019 - 23:00 to Thu, 02/21/2019 - 01:00

A screening and discussion of the short documentary Do Not Pass Go (see trailer)

Do Not Pass Go follows filmmaker Cullen Hoback’s visit to Pinetops, North Carolina, to investigate the battle between municipal networks and private providers. This event will discuss the value of local internet solutions, existing legislative and regulatory barriers, and actions that local and federal government can take to support municipal broadband and internet access for all.



How Smart Strategy and Rigorous Analysis Enable Boston to Save While Effectuating City and Public Broadband Needs

Like most cities, Boston (MA) needs an expanded fiber optic network to serve the fast-growing needs of City schools, police, and other departments—plus a range of applications like public safety cameras. Boston understood its needs—but needed more clarity on its choices. Would it be possible to affordably lease all the fiber it might need for decades to come? Or should it build its own fiber—expanding the existing City network known as BoNET?

State Laws Slow Down High-Speed Internet for Rural America

Electric cooperatives want to help bridge the digital divide between rural and urban America as more federal funding becomes available for rural broadband. Mississippi is among the states that rely most heavily on rural electric cooperatives, nonprofits that deliver power to their members in rural areas. Yet since 1942, Mississippi state law has restricted its cooperatives to working in electric services -- a 77-year-old law may prevent Mississippi from fully tapping into millions of new federal dollars to expand high-speed internet service to needy rural communities.

States Make the Right Moves

California, Washington and Indiana recently enacted legislation to help facilitate community broadband networks: 

Cooperatives and Rural Broadband

Underserved communities can provide broadband for themselves through nonprofit, cooperative entities. Many co-ops that were originally set up to provide phone service and distribute electricity now deliver broadband as well. Rural electric and telephone cooperatives are fiberizing rural America. Following are a few examples of the hundreds of successful cooperative projects. 

Communities Join Forces For Broadband

Regional efforts to develop broadband infrastructure are becoming more common.

Creative Orientation Means Success In Broadband and Telehealth

Two years ago I wrote that community broadband builders have two options for network deployment: they could use the problem-solving approach or the creation orientation approach. The problem-solving approach is typical when people deal with the government. The goal is often to make something go away.

Eastern Carolina co-op looks to bring high speed internet to rural areas

High-speed internet access is now a critical part of life, but a lack of reliable internet access is hurting rural communities. That’s the case in parts of Washington County, Hyde County, Beaufort County and many other rural areas in eastern North Carolina.  Greg Coltrain, the vice president for business development at TriCounty Broadband in Belhaven (NC), said technology isn’t the issue.  "We've put people on the moon,” said Coltrain. “But we're still trying to get rural broadband developed across our country.

Connecting the Unconnected with Open Access Infrastructure

Most Americans do not have much of a choice in Internet service providers, even in big cities. But for a lucky few, they have not only a robust gigabit connection but also a choice of many providers. This is most common in an arrangement called “open access.” Some 30 communities spread across the United States have embraced this model — where the local government builds a fiber-optic infrastructure and acts as a wholesaler, allowing independent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer the actual service to households and businesses.

Case Studies in Public-Private Partnership Driving Broadband Deployment

Many small communities across the country struggle to bring advanced broadband to their residents. What they lack in size, they often make up with diversity of their economies, populations, geography, and technology providers. Public-private partnerships (PPP) can help local government and businesses pool their resources and technical expertise to deliver cutting-edge services to citizens.

Colorado communities banding together for better, faster regional broadband internet

Local governments in Colorado want to buy better broadband and are pooling their resources to do it. It's called Project THOR, the brainchild of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments. It's designed to deliver faster internet at lower costs around the region. Project THOR has two main goals: 1) To make broadband better and faster across Northwest Colorado's rural areas. 2) To improve reliability of the regional broadband network, which is currently prone to mass failures when a fiber line goes down in a single place.