
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
For the next month, everyone can access the most recent webinar from the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB). The topic is "Partnerships and Rural Broadband Needs" and the webinar is the second in SHLB’s Grow2Gig+ webinar series. After February 10, 2017, the webinar will only be available to SHLB members.
SHLB Executive Director John Windhausen headed up the discussion which included information from Joanne Hovis, President of CTC Technology & Energy, ILSR’s Christopher Mitchell, and Mark O’Connor, Senior Vice President from Carlson Wireless.
The group discussed challenges in rural communities, the role of Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs), the potential of TV White Space technology for wireless connectivity in rural areas, and potential partnership models. John Windhausen also presented SHLB's recent American Broadband Connectivity (ABC) Proposal for the Trump Administration.
You can access the archived video on the SHLB website or watch it here.
The next webinar in SHLB’s Grow2Gig+ series will be "Subsidies for Community Anchor Institutions," to be scheduled in mid-February.
Joined by an array of leading broadband experts, infrastructure investment fund managers, institutional investors, private equity, and venture capitalists will gather in the nation’s capital next week for a day-long in-person conference to discuss and explore the digital infrastructure and investment asset profile required to support a 21st century information economy.
Last week, our own Christopher Mitchell, Director of ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative, was the featured guest on the Broadband.Money “Ask Me Anything” series. Christopher shares his nuanced perspective on examples of municipal networks that have struggled and those that have been wildly successful. He also delves into everything from the differences between big national Internet service providers and “small scrappy" companies; how federal investments to expand broadband infrastructure might play out in states and local communities; fiber versus wireless technology; and the emergence of open-access networks.
Plans for an open access fiber backbone in Erie County, New York (pop. 951,000) are being readjusted after having been stymied by the pandemic. The county will use Rescue Plan funding to cover the cost of building the backbone, which will be owned by the county and operated by ErieNet, a nonprofit local development corporation.