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Federal Municipal Network Support Declining, Warns Experts
Experts express concern that federal support for municipal broadband is limited, prompting uncertainty about future funding and operational sustainability. At a Fiber for Breakfast event Wednesday, Tyler Cooper, editor-in-chief of Broadband Now, said that Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants are less promising for municipal broadband deployments despite initial promises.
Lancaster, PA Shutters ‘Free’ Muni-Network In Pivot To Shentel Fiber Partnership
Lancaster, Pennsylvania is in the final steps of shutting down the city’s fledgling municipal broadband network as it pivots to a new public private fiber deployment partnership with Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel). Late last year city officials announced they’d selected Shentel with an eye on ensuring uniform broadband availability to the city of 57,000.
Massachusetts’ Gap Networks Program Awards Verizon $37 million; One Muni Network Gets $750K
State broadband officials in Massachusetts have announced over $45 million in grant awards from the state’s Broadband Infrastructure Gap Networks Program with the lion’s share going to Verizon, leaving some local officials scratching their heads. One municipal network received just over $750,000.
New Building for Digital Equity Podcast: STEM Alliance Discusses New Ways To Help Digital Navigators
This week’s episode features a conversation with Walter Gabino Rendon, Chief Program Officer at the STEM Alliance, who shares insights into the organization's efforts to bridge the digital divide in Westchester County, New York.
Tennessee Munis, Electric Cooperatives Get Major Chunk Of Latest State Broadband Grants
Cooperatives and Tennessee municipal broadband projects have nabbed a respectable chunk of Tennessee's latest round of middle and last mile broadband grants. Tennessee’s Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) recently announced the state had awarded more than $162.7 million in broadband and digital opportunity grants, funded primarily via federal COVID relief legislation.
CBRS Spectrum: A Potential Boon To Community Broadband
Recent federal government efforts to expand use of public Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum could be of significant help to municipalities and local communities looking to bridge the digital divide with the increasingly popular wireless technology. For municipalities, the spectrum has already proven to be a valuable way to deploy wireless access to the public, though not all community deployments of CRBS have delivered satisfactory results.
Surf Internet Expands Fiber In Partnership With Newton County, Indiana
Surf Internet and Newton County, Indiana say they’re expanding a public private partnership (PPP) that will extend gigabit fiber access to 97 percent of the county – or roughly 3,839 Newton County households by the end of this year.
Local Leaders Come Together in San Antonio to Nurture 'Ecosystem of Digital Opportunity'
Tomorrow Executive Director of the American Association of Public Broadband Gigi Sohn, along with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks team, will join an emerging network of local digital inclusion champions in San Antonio to delve into what it takes to create an ecosystem for digital opportunity.
San Francisco Wins National Award For Providing Free High Speed Internet Service To Affordable Housing Residents
With the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) now bankrupt, the City of San Francisco is being honored by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program that offers free high-speed Internet service to affordable housing residents. Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network, California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city's fiber network to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.
Colorado Passes New Broadband Laws, Takes Aim At Landlord Monopolies
The Colorado legislature has passed several new broadband bills that should aid affordable broadband deployment in the state. The new bills do everything from expanding the leeway the state has in spending broadband funding, to providing some tax breaks to providers heavily invested in rural deployment.
Somerville And Washington Maine Begin Fiber Network Construction
The towns of Somerville and Washington Maine have kickstarted their long-percolating efforts to deliver fiber broadband to both long-neglected rural municipalities. Local officials say that the municipalities’ partner, Axiom Technologies, has begun construction on a dual-town fiber deployment funded by state and federal grants.
Blueprints for BEAD: Use the FCC Map to Spot Trouble Areas for BEAD Challenges
One refrain we’ve heard over and over from those in states that have already completed the BEAD challenge process: despite NTIA’s best efforts, it's complicated and hard. The FCC map can step in to help out.