Last week, a monumental infrastructure bill passed with $65 billion devoted to broadband investment. This money will build rural connectivity, develop state policies for local broadband, and create a more digitally inclusive economy. … Read More
In the Wall Street Journal, ILSR’s community broadband networks program director Christopher Mitchell talks about the new infrastructure bill, including its funding to state offices and failure to create government competition.… Read More
When the Ohio Senate passed its two-year $75-billion budget bill yesterday, it included an amendment that effectively bans the creation and operation of municipal broadband networks and other community-owned projects without much in the way of public debate. The move is drawing a lot of blowback, from cities in the state to local and national advocacy organizations to the Lieutenant Governor.… Read More
The digital divide is leaving millions of Americans behind — and corporate telecom monopolies are only making the problem worse. A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance sheds light on this under-reported problem. ILSR’s report finds that at a time when access to high-quality broadband is more important than ever, monopoly control of this essential public infrastructure is leaving many Americans — particularly people in rural communities and communities of color — disconnected, underserved, or, at best, paying too much for substandard service.… Read More
Over the summer, Oregon created a larger rural broadband development fund by revising its state Universal Service Fund program to include wireless and VoIP telephone service.… Read More
When schools in Champaign, Illinois, realized that many kids living in a mobile home park weren’t online after the pandemic hit, a coalition came together to build the students a free fixed wireless network.… Read More
In the WSJ, ILSR’s Christopher Mitchell also explains the failures of US broadband policy that has kept communities from getting connected.… Read More
Scott Vanderlip can see Google’s headquarters from his house in the town of Los Altos Hills, California. Still, some of his neighbors struggle to access the online world that the tech company has helped shape. So they created Los Altos Hills Community Fiber, a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation that’s bringing a local, high-quality connectivity option to the area.… Read More
In this episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, Christopher is joined by Jamie Letzring, Deputy City Manager for West Des Moines, Iowa, and Dave Lyons, a consultant with the city, to explain how the city decided to build a citywide conduit system, which has convinced Google Fiber to offer service in West Des Moines.… Read More
