Solar Parity Coming Faster Than Expected

Date: 6 Mar 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Back in 2012, ILSR released a pair of reports on the solar Rooftop Revolution, noting that one-third of Americans would live in a metropolitan area where the cost of solar energy from their roof would be less than the cost of power from the utility by 2021. When combined with our analysis of non-residential property, we … Read More

Report: North Dakota’s Pharmacy Ownership Law Leads to Better Pharmacy Care

Date: 20 Oct 2014 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

What a difference local ownership makes. Under a forward-thinking 1963 law, North Dakota does not allow chains to operate pharmacies. Instead, virtually all of the state’s 171 pharmacies are locally owned and independent. In this data-driven study, ILSR finds that North Dakotans receive significantly better pharmacy care by every measure, from some of the lowest drug prices in the nation to unparalleled access, particularly in rural areas. … Read More

Spencer Municipal Utilities Expands Upgrade to Fiber in Iowa

Date: 24 Jul 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Spencer Municipal Utilities (SMU) in Iowa is expanding an upgrade project to bring fiber to approximately 2,000 additional premises. A little over a year ago, we reported on the switch from coax cable to fiber for 700 municipal network customers with no rate increase. According to the Spencer Daily Reporter, the original project is almost completed; … Read More

Early Lessons from Longmont – Community Broadband Bits Podcast 106

Date: 8 Jul 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks, Podcast | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Longmont is about to break ground on the citywide FTTH gigabit network but it is already offering services to local businesses and a few neighborhoods that started as pilot projects. Vince Jordan, previously a guest two years ago, is back to update us on their progress. Until recently, Vince was the Telecom Manager for Longmont Power … Read More

Monticello Public Partners Light Up Fiber in Illinois

Date: 5 Jun 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Kids in the Monticello Community Unified School District #25 (CUSD #25) are now enjoying a new publicly owned fiber optic network. The School District is one of four public partners that collaborated to install the network and share the $306,000 in deployment costs. The City of Monticello, Piatt County, and the Allerton Public Library began the … Read More

CenturyLink Seeks Apartment Buildings for Gigabit in Portland

Date: 26 Apr 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In the wake of Google’s announcement that Portland could be one of the next communities for the Google Fiber network, CenturyLink is circulating an offer to select apartment buildings to apply for CenturyLink fiber. This appears to be more than the standard fiber-to-the-press-release responses we often see from the big telephone companies that prefer to lobby, … Read More

Lexingtonians Consider Municipal Network Options in Kentucky

Date: 13 Mar 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Community leaders in Lexington are the latest to stand at a fork in the broadband road. In September, the franchise agreement between the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) and Time Warner Cable expired, resulting in a month-to-month agreement continuation. As they negotiate a new contract, local citizens have called for consideration of a municipal network. When … Read More

High Speed in the Blue Grass State: Russellville’s Gig

Date: 23 Jan 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The Logan Journal recently reported that the Russellville Electric Plant Board (EPB) now offers gigabit service to local businesses. The article notes that Net Index, an online tool to measure download and upload speeds, recognizes EPB as the first Gig city in Kentucky. To learn more about the community and its network, we talked with Robert White, … Read More

LightTUBe Financially Secure in Tennessee

Date: 19 Dec 2013 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Tullahoma Utilities Board’s triple-play FTTH LightTUBe, began serving Tullahoma in 2009. The fiber network utility is paying off its city bond debt on schedule reports the Tullahoma News. The network’s income during the first four months of fiscal year 2014 is a positive $58,939. General Manager Brian Skelton spoke with Chris Mitchell in July 2013 and expressed confidence … Read More

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