Emma Gautier
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Emma Gautier
Stories by this author
Rural Southeast Alaskan Tribes Leverage Spectrum for a Pilot Connecting Hard-to-Reach Communities
The Tlingit and Haida Tribes will leverage $15 million in Rescue Plan funding to bring LTE-based 100 Mbps symmetrical wireless connectivity to 10,000 unserved residents in and around the city of Wrangell, located on Wrangell Island
A Plan for Middle and Last-Mile Comes Together in York County
For the past two years, York County, Pennsylvania (est. pop. 459,000) has been working hard on a multi-part plan to connect both rural and urban areas.
Summit County, Ohio Defends Community Broadband from State Opposition and Forges Ahead with Plans to Bolster Economic Development
Summit County has put together a multi-part, $75 million broadband plan to improve connectivity in the area: a middle-mile institutional fiber ring to connect the county’s public safety facilities and expand its broadband capacity, a new datacenter, and a fiber investment to specifically target residents and businesses in the county’s underserved areas and economic activity hubs.
Dixie EPA’s Accelerated Buildout Reflects a Big Connectivity Push by Mississippi Cooperatives
Over the past eighteen months, southeastern-Mississippi based Dixie Electric Power Association (Dixie EPA) has gone from presenting its initial buildout plans for a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, all the way to connecting its 5,000th subscriber. Because of electric cooperatives like Dixie that are getting organized and prioritizing connectivity for their members, Mississippi is likely to become one of the states with the best rural connectivity within the next five years.
Dubuque County, Iowa Revisits a Public Infrastructure Buildout
Located in southeastern Iowa, Dubuque (pop. 60,000) has considered the advantages of building a municipal network a number of times over the past fifteen years. Back in 2005, the city – as well as several other Iowa communities – voted to “grant the right to create municipal systems” (Telegraph Herald, 2009).
New Vermont Communications Union District Convenes to Connect the Rutland Region
With nearly 65,000 households unable to connect to the Internet at basic broadband speeds of 25/3 Megabits per second (Mbps), municipalities across the Green Mountain State have risen to the fore in formulating creative models for addressing the tens of thousands of homes without broadband access.
BrightRidge Charges Ahead with Connecting Communities in Tennessee
<p>Located in the most northeastern part of Tennessee, BrightRidge has served as Johnson City’s public power utility for nearly 80 years.
[Updated Report] Shopping for Broadband: Failed Federal Policy Creates Murky Marketplace
In November, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance published a report examining the transparency practices of Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
RDOF Funding Propels a Local Electric Cooperative to Extend Connectivity in Rural Missouri
Electric cooperatives illustrate the power that community-owned enterprises have to bring Internet access at scale to unconnected rural communities.
Sprout Fiber Takes Root in Rural Alabama
In June of 2020, Cullman Electric Cooperative launched Sprout Fiber Internet, a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network to bring broadband access to its members in rural Alabama.