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Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
New Resource Alert: ILSR Unveils Community Networks Predictive Map
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In September we released our updated map pinpointing the location of the 400 municipally owned Internet service providers now serving almost 800 communities across the United States.
Today, we unveil our predictive map which was created by our Senior GIS Analyst Christine Parker.
The map provides a multi-layered look into the near future of community broadband networks.
It not only shows where existing community-owned fiber networks are located but also highlights how those networks will expand in the coming years based on formally announced plans and secured funding to complete network builds.
A few things to note about the map (below at bottom):
The map only shows community-owned fiber networks.
The darkest shaded layers show the footprint that is already built representing data from the FCC's Broadband Data Collection.
Lighter shaded layers show the footprint that has not been built yet but where federal funding has been secured to expand, based on the FCC’s Broadband Funding Map.
- The lightest shaded layers indicate the “predicted” areas – everywhere electric and telephone cooperatives could build, if they wanted. This layer is based on FCC Study Area Boundaries & HIFLD Retail Service Areas. (It should also be noted that this predictive layer does not include municipal networks or tribally-owned networks.)
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[GIF caption: Electric and telephone cooperatives are both shown in orange; municipalities are shown in teal].
Community networks building future-proof fiber have exploded over the last decade: more than 100 have been established since 2017 alone.
There’s plenty we can learn from the breadth and depth of the work done over the last decade by local municipalities, cooperatives, and Tribes that have decided to address the marketplace failures which have left them behind.
With the new federal dataset and tools we have available, we look forward to exploring the data in new and interesting ways to show where and how community networks are having the biggest impact today – and where they might tomorrow as well.
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