As we emphasize time and time again, communities build their own networks because they have to, not because they want to. North Carolina’s Fibrant network in Salisbury is no exception and a recent technical headache is a reminder that no network is built without problems developing. Fortunately, Salisbury’s strong reputation for providing great, local customer service is helping … Read More
Los Alamos County is commonly known as home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It may soon also be home to an incredible next-generation network owned by the community. New Mexico’s Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI) received BTOP funding to construct a middle-mile fiber network connecting anchor institutions in Rio Arriba, northern Santa Fe, and Los … Read More
Last year, we reported that ECFiber was in the process of connecting rural Vermont, with a focus on connecting those who had no access to broadband. In addition to large investments from a limited number of investors, local citizens began lending funds to expand the network. In a recent open letter to the Governor, published in the … Read More
Last summer, Medina County Schools announced a savings of almost $90,000 a year by switching from Time Warner Cable to the new Medina County Fiber Network. Scheduled for completion in late November, the network consists of a 151-mile loop and will provide bandwidth to government facilities and businesses. The project is mostly funded by the Medina … Read More
In October, Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net), hosted the panel discussion Community Broadband as a Path to Thriving Local Economies and Neighborhood Development as part of their Digital Dialogue series. As you may remember, our Christopher Mitchell was scheduled to participate. While Chris very much was looking forward to the opportinty to present, Delta Airlines had … Read More
Lake County, a rural area on the north side of Minnesota’s portion of Lake Superior, has long suffered with just dial up and satellite, with slow cable connections available in some of the towns. After receiving a stimulus project to build a county-owned FTTH project connecting everyone, many thought their broadband troubles were over. But Mediacom … Read More
We have covered developments in the town of Indianola, Iowa, where the community decided to build their own network in 1998. The original purpose for investment was to use the network to enhance public safety and increase efficiency with SCADA applications. In 2005, however, the network began offering telecommunications services to local businesses. As of October, … Read More
MI-Connection, the North Carolina community-owned network serving Davidson, Cornelius, and Mooresville, is upgrading network speeds and unveiling a new marketing campaign. MI-Connection was formed when a few towns north of Charlotte purchased the old, dilapidated Adelphia cable network out of bankruptcy and began rehabbing it. According to David Boraks of the DavidsonNews.net: The company on Dec. … Read More
The new Fact Sheet highlights examples of job creation tied to community owned networks. ILSR continually encounters and collects data on economic development spurred by community networks. As demand for more capacity, better reliability and reasonable affordability continues to rise, commercial customers need options. This new economic development fact sheet documents only a few of the … Read More
