Localism

Boston (MA) City Councilors held a hearing on the need for better, more equitable broadband connection citywide and improved digital equity in the city. They also discussed changes to existing federal assistance for internet access. The hearing was called due to concerns over the ability of all Boston residents, regardless of where in the city they live and how much money they make, to access reliable internet connections.

Cherokee County (SC) and Charter Communications have announced a public-private partnership that over the next two years is set to expand high-speed internet access countywide. More significantly this could be a model for expanding rural broadband access across the United States. Initial dollars for the ambitious project will come from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), a $20.4 billion fund established by the Federal Communications Commission to bring high speed fixed broadband service to rural homes and small businesses that lack it.

When Hillsboro (OR) officials first announced the city-owned high-speed internet service in 2019, they thought it would take about 10 years to roll out. Now they said half of all addresses in Hillsboro will have access to HiLight between 2024-25. The service first launched to about 800 neighbors about a year ago, but officials have updated their plan to expedite the process. HiLight officials plan to complete the rollout by 2027. HiLight offers city residents 1 gigabit per second for $55 per month.

Nonprofit newsrooms like States Newsroom keep close tabs on the state legislatures and regulatory agencies where decisions are being made that affect many aspects of daily life for citizens: taxes, environmental rules, health care policy, school funding, workers rights and much more.

Later in December 2021, Maine's new broadband agency will submit its plan to the federal government to use $128 million to expand and improve high-speed internet access across the state. The Maine Connectivity Authority is just six months old, but the quasi-governmental agency is already sitting on $21 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan that Democrats in Congress passed earlier this year, and it will soon submit its proposal to the US Treasury Department to spend $128 million more.

Nik Coates, the town administrator for Bristol (NH), is working on a project that would bring New Hampshire closer to the goal of universal coverage. Coates is also part of the Grafton County Broadband Committee, which applied for $26.2 million in federal funds that would go toward building out broadband in that county. But the grant process – through the National Transportation Infrastructure Agency – is facing a challenge from incumbent providers who say they are already providing service in the region.

Gov JB Pritzker (D-IL) and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Office of Broadband announced the Accelerate Illinois Broadband Infrastructure Planning Program. The program – a collaborative effort by the Illinois Office of Broadband, Illinois-based Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and University of Illinois Extension – will help local governments throughout Illinois receive expert support as they prepare to leverage new dollars that will be made available by the state as well as through the historic passage of the federal infrastructure program.

Platte County and Loup Power District have joined a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for broadband infrastructure development, investigating a public-private partnership to bring higher quality broadband to the rural area. The partnership is the brainchild of Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) Special Assistant to the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Innovation Pat Pope. Since retiring from his longtime position as the president and CEO of NPPD in February 2020, Pope has been working on rural broadband development.

Alaska could receive more than $1 billion from the recently passed federal infrastructure package for high-speed broadband networks. According to Alaska Telecom Association executive director Christine O'Connor, that amount of funding would be “transformational.” “We’ve never seen an environment like this before for broadband,” she said. O’Connor was a member of a broadband task force established by Gov Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) that recently released a report on improving internet access.

Residents of St. Helena Parish (LA) have long driven on roads that seem to cave in as quickly as they’re fixed. However, local officials are lauding President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law as a chance for change. Broadband internet and roads — two resources that draw frequent complaints in this rural parish with deeply-rooted infrastructure troubles — are key areas the massive bill targets. It holds $65 billion for internet upgrades nationwide, and $110 billion to refurbish bridges and roads.