Over 230 communities have applied for National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband Infrastructure Program grants. But community leaders increasingly say they’re facing costly, unnecessary challenges from incumbent broadband providers, who are exploiting unreliable U.S. broadband maps to overstate existing coverage and defend the status quo.… Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Virgil McDill, vmcdill@ilsr.org, 202.294.9187 Statement from Brenda Platt, Director of the Composting for Community Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, On The Introduction of the COMPOST Act WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 16, 2021) — The following statement was issued by Brenda Platt, Director of the Composting for Community Initiative at the … 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
In response to the increased reliance on connectivity precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Minnesota Legislature is working on legislation to improve access to broadband, online education, and telehealth services throughout the state. … Read More
An op-ed written by Katie Kienbaum, Research Associate at ILSR, addresses the inadequacy of satellite Internet access and why federal funding should go to real broadband solutions. … Read More
As interest in publicly owned broadband network infrastructure increases, local communities seek out new ways to fund municipal networks. The Creative Funding Sources For Fiber Infrastructure fact sheet presents new approaches, pros and cons, and provides examples for further study.… Read More
It took an extra year for a community in Minnesota to finally see high-quality Internet service. Balaton spent an extra year in connectivity purgatory while Frontier delayed a much-needed project. To learn more, we connected with the Balaton and Marshall Economic Development Director Tara Onken and Woodstock Communications Vice President and General Manager Terry Nelson.… Read More
Co-founders of the Post Road Foundation, Waide Warner and Seth Hoedl, have decades of experience between them in law, policy, and leadership. Their areas of expertise span cyberlaw, government and finance, environmental law and policy, electricity, telecommunications and energy law and policy, nuclear physics, and the list goes on. Through their years of research and in consulting with both public and private entities, Warner and Hoedl both saw that many rural communities needed better connectivity for economic development, better quality of life, and to keep populations strong. They’ve also found that if local communities or cooperatives are able to use fiber optics to synergize multiple utilities, the community is resilient and more self-reliant.… Read More
In Colorado last week, communities held spring elections if they needed to choose elected officials or ask voters to make decisions on local matters. In six rural communities, voters decided to join the almost 120 municipalities and counties around the state that have already voted to opt out of Colorado’s restrictive state law SB 152. Meanwhile, the General Assembly tried to help bring broadband to the state’s most rural areas.… Read More
