Local/Municipal

Broadband champions can be the decisive factors in efforts to improve community connectivity. The work of broadband champions has been shaped by the particularities of their broadband contexts: the local political will, the existing providers, the topography, and the wide-ranging motivations and strategies. What they have in common is their dedication, which has proved to be crucial in helping their communities get high-speed broadband.

Engagement is key with any successful public broadband network hoping to get off the ground, according to Chris Walker, the senior executive director of Infrastructure Strategy Noa Net, a non-profit public broadband organization owned by public utilities that operates in the Pacific Northwest. Kerem Durdag, the CEO of Maine-based Great Works Internet, said providers need to realize it’s alright to make money, but it’s also alright to have a social contract defining how a given project will benefit the community.

A blueprint for cities and counties to expand Internet access by leveraging a municipally-enabled, middle-mile fiber backbone without bearing the full burden of infrastructure costs. The approach could help bridge the persistent digital divide affecting numerous communities nationwide. Drawing on case studies from Fort Worth and Lake Cities (TX), and Joplin (MO) Middle Mile as a Catalyst highlights the efficacy of following this approach.

Windstream, Colquitt Electric Membership Cooperative (EMC) and Lowndes County (GA), are teaming up on a $39 million public-private partnership to bring broadband to about 16,000 locations in the county. Windstream is contributing about $17.6 million. The other $21.7 million is funded through the Georgia State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the county. Windstream will handle cost overruns. The project, which will provide multi-gigabit service to users, will include 806 miles of fiber.

In a step toward transforming Memphis (TN) into the nation's most digitally-equitable large city, Mayor Paul Young (D) broke ground on Memphis' first citywide fiber network. Memphis' median fixed broadband speeds currently rank among the slowest of any major US cities and less than 25 percent of residents have access to superior fiber internet. The citywide infrastructure being designed, built, financed, and managed by Blue Suede Networks, is being designed to pass 85 percent of Memphis' business and residential premises, including 85 percent in low-income communities.

For residents in rural areas of Williamson County (TN), the wait for fiber internet service may soon be over.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has now given 48 states the green light to start their required Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program challenge process to refine the list of locations that will be eligible for BEAD funding. The starting point for the states is the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map, based on its Broadband Data Collection (BDC), with the state-run challenge process providing stakeholders the opportunity to make updates and corrections.

According to the 2022 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, "digital discrimination" involves determining who gets broadband access “based on income level, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” As an example, some neighborhoods in cities get faster broadband speeds than those in poorer neighborhoods, creating a two-tiered effect. Nationally, the Federal Communications Commission has been empowered by Congress to handle digital discrimination complaints, which provides some remedy for those who find themselves on this new wrong side of the digital divide.

In Fort Collins, Colorado, residents have a unique option when signing up for internet service. Instead of being limited to giant providers like Comcast, Charter or Cox, they can opt for a city-owned and operated service, called Connexion. Connexion's genesis took place about a decade ago, when the city was looking for ways to bring faster, more affordable internet to the community. In November 2017, voters approved a ballot measure to build a municipal fiber network.

The city of Joplin (MO), has taken broadband competitiveness into its own hands and has wooed ALLO Fiber to build a fiber network in the city that will compete against the long-time incumbent Cable One. This is bad news for Cable One. But it could also spell bad news for cable providers all over the country. For several decades cable operators have been careful to respect each other’s footprints, rather than competing against each other in many markets.