For Immediate Release: June 05, 2024
Media Contact: Sean Gonsalves
“This report demonstrates the viability of Vermont’s approach to fixing a broken broadband marketplace,” says Ry Marcattilio, the report’s lead author.
[MINNEAPOLIS] – As the national “Internet For All” Initiative moves into full swing, a new report published today by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society details Vermont’s unique approach to bridging the digital divide in the Green Mountain State, offering hard-won lessons and practical insights for rural communities in other states.
“Neighborly Networks: Vermont’s Approach to Community Broadband” delves into the emergence of Vermont’s Communications Union Districts (CUDs), specifically created to deliver broadband service to local residents and businesses long-overlooked by incumbent Internet service providers.
“This report demonstrates the viability of Vermont’s approach to fixing a broken broadband marketplace and how CUDs will play a central role in transforming Vermont into one of the best-connected states in the nation over the next half-decade,” said Ry Marcattilio, a senior researcher with ILSR and the report’s lead author.
“In adopting a regional utility district model to bring high-quality Internet access to over 200 rural communities in every corner of the state, we were not only interested in analyzing the birth and development of the CUDs, but also how this approach might be instructive for rural communities outside of Vermont,” report co-author Revati Prasad, vice president of programs with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society added.
Using historical Federal Communications Commission (FCC) data to illustrate the marketplace failures that left tens of thousands of Vermonters on the wrong side of the digital divide, the report begins by laying out Vermont’s persistent broadband challenges, what led to the formation of the state’s first CUD in 2008, ECFiber, and how Vermont legislators built on the success of ECFiber to support the formation of the state’s nine other CUDs.
The 31-page report goes on to provide case studies of each of the state’s 10 CUDs, weaving together more than a dozen interviews with Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCCB) staff, Department of Public Services officials, and representatives from each CUD.
That is followed by an analysis of the “Common Cause Across CUDs,” which also explores “the scale of the solution” and highlights the foundational role that “Vermontiness” volunteerism plays – as the state aims to leverage a once-in-a-generation infusion of federal funds from the bipartisan infrastructure law, including $229 million for Vermont.
The final section of the report – “Exporting the Vermont Model” – provides a glimpse of similar approaches in other states and ultimately offers a nuanced assessment.
“There is certainly a case to be made that the sense of community and the foundational work by broadband champions and CUD boosters in the state made for a unique constellation of energies. On the other hand, much of what made elected leaders and residents in Vermont come to an agreement about the causes of poor broadband and the need for a community-driven solution is present elsewhere,” the report says.
Download the report here.
About the Institute for Local Self-Reliance:
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has a vision of thriving, equitable communities. We are a national research and advocacy organization that partners with allies across the country to build an American economy driven by local priorities and accountable to people and the planet. The Community Broadband Networks Initiative is a program of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance that works with a diverse group of allies, partners, and local communities on policies to improve local Internet access. Through the initiative, we also research and document what communities nationwide are doing to improve access to high-quality broadband at Communitynets.org.
About Benton Institute for Broadband & Society:
The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, high-performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy – rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity – has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.
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