Just a few weeks after releasing our case study of Santa Monica’s City Net, we have an opportunity to interview Jory Wolf, CIO of Santa Monica, and the chief driver of City Net. This is episode #90 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. We talk about how City Net got its start with a smart approach … Read More
On February 27, the New America Foundation presented the live webcast, “Connected Communities in an Age of Digital Learning: A Vision for a 21st Century E-rate Program.” The webcast addressing the modernization of the E-rate program is now archived and available to view. As technology advances, schools must find ways to keep up. At the root … Read More
On March 18th, our own Chris Mitchell will host a webinar that you don’t want to miss. Tech In the City: A Conversation About Community Broadband Access will be an engaging discussion about municipal networks in light of the recent Verizon v. FCC decision. The court delved into the FCC’s authority, clearing up ambiguities from past … Read More
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
This post got lost in our system but we still wanted to publish it. The Nation ran an article by Maya Wiley, founder of the Center for Social Inclusion, calling on New York’s Mayor de Blasio to bring the “Two New Yorks” together with community broadband. Her article describes the Red Hook area of Brooklyn where a … Read More
If all had gone according to the plan behind the 1996 Telecommunications Act, we would have lots of competition among Internet service providers, not just cable and DSL but other technologies as well. Alas, the competing technologies never really appeared and various incarnations of the FCC effectively gutted the common carriage requirements at the heart of … Read More
(Minneapolis, MN—March 10, 2014) In a tough economic climate, a new report affirms that government investments in broadband infrastructure spur business efficiency. Today the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report, Telecommunications: Federal Broadband Deployment and Programs and Small Business, finding that “improvements to broadband service have resulted from federal funding and the existence … Read More
We recently reported that local leaders in Chanute and Westminster had passed resolutions supporting the FCC as it considers its authority. The Kentucky Municipal Utilities Association (KMUA) passed a similar resolution on February 28th. KMUA members include 45 city-owned utilities including electricity, water, wastewater, natural gas, and telecommunications services. Members include places our readers are familiar … Read More
The Government Accountability Office released a report today examining economic development and government-spurred broadband deployment. The report, titled Telecommunications: Federal Broadband Deployment Programs and Small Business looks at the effects of stimulus projects on opportunities for small business. According to the press release: “GAO’s investigation confirms the success of the Recovery Act’s broadband programs,” said Rep. … Read More
