Even though the Kansas cable lobby have temporarily retracted their competition-killing telecom bill, we still want to highlight the benefits of preserving full home rule, local authority by focusing on a number of communities, including Chanute, Ottawa, and Erie. Chanute We have reported on Chanute’s municipal network for years. The community leveraged its electric utility assets and … Read More
Kansas is not the only place where the cable and telecom lobbies are attacking publicly owned networks. Jesse Harris from FreeUtopia.org reports that State Rep. Curt Webb has introduced HB60, aimed at UTOPIA. From the story: As the bill is currently written, UTOPIA wouldn’t just be prevented from building to people willing to pay for it. … Read More
Nine years ago, Aurora officials decided it was time to reduce telecommunications costs and upgrade to a faster, more reliable network. The local government built a fiber network to service municipal government, but developed long-term ideas for the network to benefit the entire community. Nonprofit OnLight Aurora now uses the City’s fiber optic network to provide high-speed … Read More
Kansas is the latest legislative battle ground in the fight to preserve local self-reliance. The Kansas Legislature is taking up SB 304 to limit local municipalities’ authority to invest in publicly owned networks. While the language of the bill states the purpose is to “encourage widespread use of technological advances” for video and broadband at competitive … Read More
What is the role of local self-reliance in the modern economy? As world travel, global commerce, and communications across the oceans bring us closer together, the role of localism changes. In our inaugural podcast episode, we bring together three ILSR veterans to look at the issue. Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Telecommunications as Commons initiative at … Read More
Its extensive free Wi-Fi has brought Ponca City into the limelight but the mesh network did not appear overnight. The community effort began with miles of fiber network that provide connectivity and enable the mesh network financially and technically. Ponca City, home to 25,000, is located on Oklahoma’s north central border; Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Wichita … Read More
In partnership with the Center for Popular Democracy, we have created a new policy brief: Building Community Broadband Access. We offer examples of communities that have acted to improve access by using smart strategies that facilitate community owned networks. This fact sheet provides information to legislators, advocates, or concerned citizens who want to educate others about the … Read More
Mark your calendar to attend Boarder to Boarder Broadband: A Call to Action on February 4 – 5 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The event is sponsored by the Blandin Foundation and a long list of organizations concerned with connectivity, economic development, and education ni Minnesota. ILSR’s Chris Mitchell will be presenting on February 5 as part … Read More
The Sun Prairie City Council met on January 14th to discuss a possible investment in a municipal fiber network. Thank you to local resident Jonathan Kleinow for alerting us to developments in the south central Wisconsin town. The Star published an article about the meeting in which The Motive Group presented information to the Committee of … Read More
