News

Local fall referendums are still a few months away, but at least four additional Colorado communities have decided to put local broadband authority on the ballot.

California

How Silicon Valley can use community input to bridge the big broadband gap by Mohammad Shakouri and Jon Walton, Silicon Valley Business Journal

Georgia

Spanish Fork, Utah, was recently highlighted in a promotional video touting the successes of its municipal Internet service.

Lobbyists from the cable and telecom industry succeeded in using the legislature to firm up their rural Massachusetts monopolies this session. Communities that rely on state funds for local publicly owned broadband infrastructure projects now face restrictions on the reach of their high-speed networks.

A Long Trip Through the Legislature

Great Lakes Energy (GLE), Michigan’s largest electric cooperative and third largest energy utility, is constructing a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network to bring gigabit connectivity to its 125

If you’ve never visited the Great Lakes Region in the autumn, you’ve missed out. Now is your chance to redeem yourself and to increase your knowledge for your community.

Interest in broadband as a utility continues to rise across the country and in places where elected officials need a show of support, grassroots groups are stepping up. Recently in Portland, Oregon, a group of locals launched Municipal Broadband PDX, an effort to grow an already increasing momentum in the Rose City.

California

Oxnard sees high-speed Internet expansion as an economic development tool by Wendy Leung, VC Star

Colorado

Dorchester County, Maryland, shored up better connectivity for local businesses this past June, utilizing a cooperative network to further fiber infrastructure and to light a business on an island chain in need of some fast Internet connectivity.

Sometimes best ideas are brewed up over a pint, and Michaelston-y-Fedw Internet proves that.

If you couldn’t make it to Pittsburgh for “Making Connections” with Next Century Cities in July, you can still almost be there. The Internet Society has now archived the video footage of the event — speeches and panels — and made them available online.

Eight years after completing its citywide dark fiber network, Idaho Falls, Idaho, is now taking steps to offer municipal fiber optic Internet services to its residents.

The city of Santa Monica’s efforts to shrink the digital divide ranks as one of the Top 25 Programs in American Government of 2017. That’s according to Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, who names the top programs in governance based on innovation in government policy. 

For years, national cable and telecom companies have complained that they work in a tough industry because “there’s too much broadband competition.” Such a subjective statement has created confusion among subscribers, policy makers, and elected officials. Many people, especially those in rural areas, have little or no choice. We wanted to dive deeper into the realities of their claim, so we decided to look at the data and map out what the large carriers offer and where they offer it. Check out our new report, Profiles of Monopoly: Big Cable and Telecom.

Arkansas

Arkansas Coop Expanding Fiber Network to All Members by BBC Wires, Broadband Communities Magazine

California

Ocala, Florida, is one of those communities that doesn’t think twice about offering high-quality Internet access to businesses and residents.

Whether or not you were able to get to Vail for Mountain Connect in June, the next conference bringing together leaders in broadband policy and implementation is shaping up. Great Lakes Connect will take place September 24th - 26th in Fairlawn, Ohio; register now for reduced rates.

Create and Compete

The City of Westfield in western Massachusetts recently launched a new marketing initiative designed to attract business and promote sustainable growth.

Buried under Jackson, Mississippi’s streets are miles of untapped dark fiber. The city council and new mayor’s office hope to change that, and have made moves to relight the fiber optic cables and put Jackson on the path to become the next regional tech hub.

More than two years ago, community leaders in New Braunfels, Texas, decided to move forward with funding for a feasibility study to examine options for publicly owned Internet infrastructure.