Lawmakers in Ohio are slowly advancing a proposal to help fund rural broadband deployment. The House Bill has similarities to Minnesota’s Border-to-Border Broadband Program, and, as it is proposed, it will infuse $100 million in to broadband deployment ecosystem over the next two years. It’s a welcome lift for rural areas struggling to fend off economic dilemmas.… Read More
The city’s network has provided open access fiber connectivity to municipal and county facilities, schools, community anchor institutions (CAIs), and downtown businesses for years. They officially launched the network in 2011 after serving public facilities and a few businesses on an as-needed basis. A 2015 expansion brought the network allowed Cortez to offer fiber connectivity to more premises. There are at least seven private sector ISPs using the infrastructure to offer services to local businesses.… Read More
The state of Virginia has many rural pockets on both the Atlantic coast and the interior valley areas. These geographic challenges offer a roadblock to connectivity from incumbent Internet Service Providers, that’s why cooperatives are stepping up to offer connectivity to their member-owners.… Read More
A bill making its way through the Colorado General Assembly is tackling one of the most effective tools that big incumbent ISPs use to secure their positions as monopoly Internet access providers – the right of first refusal. If HB 1099 passes, community leaders and advocates for a competitive broadband market will be able to put a chink in the monopoly armor. Other states may follow their lead.… Read More
Rural Californians have similar problems as many in rural America, a lack of high-quality, affordable Internet access. The story of the Anza Electric Cooperative in rural southern California details how they are expanding and meeting the needs of its 4,000 rural members.… Read More
As an increasing number of rural cooperatives make the decision to offer high-quality connectivity in their service areas, communities where local telephone and electric cooperatives already provide Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) are seeing benefits today. Paul Bunyan Communications, offering broadband in Minnesota’s northwest region, has lured a new employer who will bring at least 150 new jobs to the area.… Read More
The SEMO Electric Cooperative in southeastern Missouri recently announced that subscribers are hooked up and taking advantage of Fiber-to-the-Home in rural Scott County and in the towns of Miner, Advance, and Bloomfield. The co-op board saw that providing high-quality Internet access to was filling a demand that incumbents are not meeting, locals want, and assists the community.… Read More
When residents and business owners completed a survey in 2013 as the community considered what route to take, 70 percent of respondents said that their current ISP did not meet their needs; 95 percent expressed an interest in alternative choices for Internet access. Since then, community leaders have hired a consultant to develop a feasibility study and Sharon Broadband Yes, a grassroots group advocating for a fiber network, has formed to educate the public.
The group is asking voters to pass a broadband bond proposal to allow the community to issue $4.9 million in general obligation bonds to fund a fiber optic network project. … Read More
Senator Janice Bowling has long been a champion for rural broadband in Tennessee. On March 6th, her bill SB 1045 came before the Tennessee Senate Commerce and Labor Committee and the members chose not to advance the bill. Once again, big telephone and cable company interests win out over the needs of rural Tennesseans.… Read More
