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Garden Spot of Utah Moves to Build Bountiful Fiber Network in Face of Dark Money Campaign
Bountiful, Utah officials have settled on a plan to bring Bountiful Fiber and affordable connectivity to its residents and businesses. By unanimous vote of the city council, the issuance of $48 million in bonds was recently authorized to fund construction of what will be a city-owned open access fiber network. A dark money campaign spearheaded by the Utah Taxpayers Association (UTA), however, is threatening to derail the project.
Digital Equity LA Picket Urges CA State Senator to Pass AB 41
The coalition known as Digital Equity LA assembled to picket in front of State Sen. Steven Bradford’s Office, publicly calling for an “end to digital redlining” and for passage of Assembly Bill 41 (AB 41), also known as The Digital Equity in Video Franchising Act of 2023. If passed as is, the proposed bill – which we wrote about previously here – would establish an equal access requirement, anti-discrimination provisions, and a process for the public and local governments to provide input on the franchise agreements governing how cable Internet service providers serve their communities.
Allegan County Michigan Open Access Fiber Network Gets $30 Million Grant Infusion
Allegan County, Michigan will soon receive a $30 million state grant to finalize the deployment of a new open access, carrier-neutral fiber network. The end result will bring overdue competition – and affordable multi-gigabit fiber access – to long neglected communities by 2025. The $30 million award is part of Michigan’s $238 million Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) grant program, made possible by 2021’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the resulting Capital Projects Fund.
Colorado Springs Utility Fiber Deployment Moves Into Second Phase
Colorado Springs, Colorado and its city-owned utility have begun construction on the second phase of a promising open access fiber optic network that should bring affordable fiber broadband to the city of half a million residents. Construction of the network by Springs Utilities began in the first region in September 2022, shortly after the city-owned utility struck a 25-year lease agreement with Ting to be the network anchor tenant.
ECFiber in Vermont Marches Toward Completion
It was a big week for ECFiber as Vermont’s first – and oldest – Communication Union District (CUD) celebrated lighting up the last hub of its 1,500 mile-network in White River Junction. To mark the occasion of connecting the “golden patch cord” that will extend high-speed Internet service to eight more communities in the Upper Valley region, White River Junction’s VFW Hall was packed to celebrate what ECFiber officials liken to “the Golden Spike moment tying the first transcontinental railroad together.”
In Case You Missed It: Does Federal Policy Disincentivize New Small Broadband Providers?
Apropos to yesterday’s BEAD allocation announcement, here’s a sample from Episode 72 in which ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative Director Christopher Mitchell and the livestream crew discuss whether federal policy disincentivizes new small broadband providers from getting access to grant funding.
Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative Should Light Up First Fiber Users By August
Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC) has begun construction on an ambitious new fiber deployment that will soon bring affordable, multi-gigabit fiber access to all of the cooperative’s existing electrical customers in rural Northern Florida. SVEC's three-phase build out is well underway, with a beta anticipated this summer and the first commercial customers connected by August. SVEC Communications Director Jon Little says the cooperative’s goal remains to deliver affordable fiber to all 20,000 of the cooperative's current electric customers by the end of 2026.
ILSR Community Broadband Networks Initiative Statement on BEAD Allocations Announcement
Our initial reaction to today's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announcement on how it will allocate $42.5 billion in BEAD funds to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five territories. The question now is: how many states will maximize the moment?
KUB Fiber On Track To Reach 55,000 Fiber Customers By Year’s End
Knoxville Utilities Board remains on track to construct one of the biggest municipal broadband deployments ever attempted, and hopes to have delivered affordable fiber access to 55,000 Knoxville households and businesses before the end of the year. Once completed, the municipal network will provide affordable fiber access to 214,000 households across KUB’s 688-square-mile service area spanning Knox, Grainger, Union, and Sevier counties.
New Video: Coalition of Community Broadband Advocates Prevail in Louisiana
Sometimes local coalitions can beat Goliath. To mark the moment of how community broadband won in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, Delta Interfaith, Connect Humanity, and Conexon released a new short video that captures the moving story of how people-power prevailed, beat back the regional monopoly provider, and are now seeing fiber service come to a historically underserved area. While the full build-out of the new network won’t be complete until 2024, the first subscribers are expected to start getting affordable fiber service later this year.
CBN Welcomes New ACLS Fellow to Work on Advancing Digital Sovereignty in Indian Country
Say hello to our new American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellow. In September, Jessica E. Auer will join the CBN team as a postdoctoral fellow to undertake a two-year project that advances policy initiatives in support of expanding broadband access and digital sovereignty for Tribal Nations across the U.S. It’s the second time ACLS has selected ILSR as a host organization for a Leading Edge Fellowship, which embeds humanities and social science PhDs with nonprofits committed “to solve problems, build capacity, and advance justice and equity in society.”
Worries Mount Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Default Money Will Be Wasted
Concerns are mounting that over $2.8 billion in potential broadband grants doled out by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) could be wasted, further eroding the already well-criticized program’s disjointed effort to expand broadband access across rural America. These issues have not only imperiled RDOF program funding, but have thrown a wrench in the works of numerous additional government efforts to shore up broadband access, from the FCC’s long-criticized quest to accurately map U.S. broadband access, to the implementation of newer grant programs overseen by other agencies.