Community Broadband Bits Podcast

Given the exciting development of the FCC opening comment on petitions from Wilson, NC and Chattanooga, TN to restore local authority to their states, Lisa and I decided to take over this week's podcast of Community Broadband Bits. We talk about the petitions, some background, and interview Will Aycock from Wilson's Greenlight Gigabit Network and Danna Bailey from Chattanooga's EPB Fiber network. We finish with some instructions on how you can comment on the record. The Coalition for Local Internet Choice also has commenting instructions and some sample comments.

If you have doubts that we can or will connect rural America with high quality Internet connections, listen to our show today. Alyssa Clemsen-Roberts, the Industry Affairs Manager at the Utilities Telecom Council, joins me to talk about how utilities are investing in the Internet connections that their communities need. Many of these utilities are providing great connections, meaning that some of the folks living in rural America have better -- faster and more affordable -- Internet access than residents of San Francisco and New York City. We discuss the demand for better Internet access and the incredible take rates resulting from investment in some of the communities that rural electric cooperatives are serving. UTC has a been a strong ally of our efforts to prevent states from revoking local authority to build community networks. Within UTC, the Rural Broadband Council is an independent operating unit.

Boulder is the latest Colorado community to recognize the benefits of using city-owned fiber to spur job growth and improve quality of life. Boulder Director of Information Technology Don Ingle joins us for episode 108 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. We discuss the many ways in which Boulder has benefited from community owned fiber over the past 15 years and the smart policies they have used to expand conduit throughout the community. We finish with a discussion about the upcoming referendum that Boulder will likely place on the November ballot to regain local authority to use and expand its fiber assets to encourage job growth and increase residential options.

Holly Springs, a town of about 25,000 in the Triangle region of North Carolina, has built its own network to connect community anchor institutions and has an interest in using it to spur economic development and other community benefits but a 2011 law pushed by Time Warner Cable makes some of that more difficult. City IT Director Jeff Wilson joined me for episode 107 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast.

Longmont is about to break ground on the citywide FTTH gigabit network but it is already offering services to local businesses and a few neighborhoods that started as pilot projects. Vince Jordan, previously a guest two years ago, is back to update us on their progress. Until recently, Vince was the Telecom Manager for Longmont Power and Communications in Colorado. He has decided to return to his entrepreneurial roots now that the utility is moving forward with the citywide project. But he has such a great voice and presence that we wanted to bring him back to share some stories. We talk about Longmont's progress and how they dealt with a miscalculation in costs that forced them to slightly modify prices for local businesses shortly after launching the service.

With so many people on vacation this week for Independence Day, we decided to take it easy and reflect on my trip to Colorado to discuss rural broadband at the Mountain Connect conference. Lisa and I reflect on the event and what other states can learn from Colorado. Though the Colorado legislature previously bowed to pressure from CenturyLink's predecessor to limit local authority, the Department of Local Affairs for the state of Colorado has a smart approach to encouraging rural broadband expansion. Rather than operating in a top-down fashion, it responds to plans that are developed organically by communities working together regionally.

I recall first hearing about Alled Fiber a few years back and not thinking much about it. It seemed like another operator focused on connecting wireless towers and building long haul fiber... but then I heard Hunter Newby's presentation at Mountain Connect in Colorado. When he noted the need to have infrastructure that financiers could not monopolize, I knew I wanted to have him on our show. Hunter is the Founder and CEO of Allied Fiber, which has just announced its route from Jacksonville to Miami is ready for service. We talk about how the carrier neutral Allied Fiber approach is different from other approaches, in part by combining colocation and ensuring other networks can interconnect almost anywhere along the route. We also set the stage for a future conversation about what local governments can learn from this carrier neutral approach.

This week, Lisa and I discuss the Coalition for Local Internet Choice, CLIC, that was announced last week. This is a short episode that aims to answer some of the common questions about CLIC, including why we felt it was necessary to create this coalition now. You can still sign up to become a member of CLIC if you agree with our statement of principles that these important decisions should be made by communities, not preempted by states. We are compiling a long list of those that support local authority - businesses, trade groups, utilities, community organizations, local governments, and more!

Following up on Lisa's in-depth story on Monticello, Illinois, we asked Vic Zimmerman to join us for episode 102 of the Community Broadband Bits. We talk about how rural Monticello started by reaching out to the existing service providers, only to be stalled for months and then years. Eventually they realized they would have to take a stronger hand in making sure community anchor institutions, including the schools, would have the fast, affordable, and reliable connections they need. Local public entities began working together and partnered with a private firm building a fiber line through town to get in the trench with them. That was the beginning of an impressive network that now connects community anchors and ideally will lead to more investment for connections to businesses and residents.

With all of the recent media discussions around network neutrality, reclassification, and "Title II," we decided to spend this week talking with Matt Wood, Policy Director for Free Press to simplify some key issues. For all the hub-bub around reclassification and dramatic claims that it represents some kind of fundamental policy shift, the truth is actually less exciting. Internet access via DSL was previously regulated under Title II of the Communications Act (as Verizon well knows and has used to its advantage). And again regulating Internet access as Title II still allows for various forms of innovation and even paid prioritization if done in a "reasonable" manner. Matt and I discuss how Internet access came to changed from Title II to Title I last decade and the implications of moving it back now. Free Press also runs the popular SaveTheInternet.com.