On December 19, 2013, TechFreedom is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Kingsbury Commitment with lunch and policy analysis. The event will include a luncheon keynote address by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai followed by a panel of policy leaders moderated by TechFreedom President Berin Szoka. The panel: Harold Feld, Public Knowledge Rob Atkinson, Information Technology … Read More
Nilay Patel, founder of tech news site the Verge, offers a nine minute interview with Susan Crawford on how we can improve access to the Internet in the US. Crawford is increasingly focusing on local action, which we have encouraged for years: Nilay Patel: In this context, to say that you’re hopeful about the government doing … Read More
When a major employer in Auburn, a town of 13,000 in northeast Indiana, told the local government that it would have to move jobs to a different location unless it had improved Internet access, the local government first encouraged it to work with the telephone company. But when that telephone company, headquartered far from Auburn, refused … Read More
In July 2013, Christopher Mitchell interviewed Brian Skelton, General Manager of the Tullahoma Utilities Board (TUB), for Episode #54 of the Broadband Bits podcast. The Tullahoma News recently reported on the podcast in an article on LighTUBe, the municipal network serving the south central Tennessee community. Staff writer Kelly Lapczynski reported on the network: “We’ve made … Read More
The Wired Road, a community-owned open access network, provides affordable fiber connectivity in rural Virginia. The network recently upgraded and now offers Gigabit commercial service in the Blue Ridge Crossroads region. From the press release: “America only has a few networks offering 1 Gigabit Broadband Services; it’s awesome that we have that technology here in our … Read More
Earlier this month, a majority of voters in Emmetsburg supported a proposal to issue bonds to build a fiber network. Nevertheless, the measure failed because Iowa requires a 60% majority when general obligation bonds fund all or part of a proposed project. Years ago, the community voted to establish a municipal cable communications or television system. … Read More
Tullahoma News, December 12, 2013 The Tullahoma Utilities Board has repaid nearly $2.2 million in city bond debt since launching its LightTUBe fiber services in January 2009, according to general manager Brian Skelton. The City of Tullahoma issued $16.9 million in general obligation bonds to TUB in 2007 to deploy fiber-to-the-home telephone, television and Internet services. … Read More
Chanute’s City Commission voted on November 25th to move forward with plans for a FTTH network. The community of approximately 9,000 began installing fiber in 1984 for electric utility purposes. They have slowly expanded the network throughout the community. Chanute’s fiber and wireless broadband utility now serves government, education, and several businesses. We documented their story … Read More
Westminster began its FTTP pilot project last summer and interest is high. Brett Lake from the Carroll County Times recently reported the project is growing. According to the story, the Mayor and Common Council voted in late November to spend city capital projects reserve funds to expand the pilot. During the engineering phase of the project, … Read More
