One hundred years after Teddy Roosevelt and AT&T agreed to the Kingsbury Commitment, Harold Feld joins us on Community Broadband Bits podcast to explain what the Kingsbury Commitment was and why it matters. In short, AT&T wants to change the way telecommunications networks are regulated and Harold is one of our best allies on this subject. … Read More
A recent article and video from Government Technology highlights the ambitious plans of Raleigh to harness the Internet to improve its attractiveness to forward-looking companies. Unfortunately, Time Warner Cable convinced North Carolina’s legislature that communities could not be trusted with the decision over whether it was a wise decision to invest in telecommunications networks. So despite … Read More
Los Alamos County is commonly known as home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It may soon also be home to an incredible next-generation network owned by the community. New Mexico’s Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI) received BTOP funding to construct a middle-mile fiber network connecting anchor institutions in Rio Arriba, northern Santa Fe, and Los … Read More
Government Technology, November 21, 2012 A small town nestled away in southern Minnesota doesn’t sound like the description of a high-tech battleground between local government and Internet service providers. But that’s reality in Winthrop, Minn. (pop 1,400), where the city’s fight to light up a municipally-owned broadband network is the latest skirmish in a national war … Read More
While I was in Danville, Virginia, for the Broadband Community Magazine Economic Development Conference, I had a chance to sit down with Jason Grey, nDanville Network Manager. This interview is our 22nd episode of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Jason and I met five years ago when I first visited Danville to learn about its municipal … Read More
Free Press is hosting the next National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR) in Denver, April 5-7. Though the panels are not finalized, it is safe to assume that we will have a few on broadband and telecommunications policy. That’s why I just registered for it and will undoubtedly be speaking on one or more sessions. For … Read More
Last year, we reported that ECFiber was in the process of connecting rural Vermont, with a focus on connecting those who had no access to broadband. In addition to large investments from a limited number of investors, local citizens began lending funds to expand the network. In a recent open letter to the Governor, published in the … Read More
Last summer, Medina County Schools announced a savings of almost $90,000 a year by switching from Time Warner Cable to the new Medina County Fiber Network. Scheduled for completion in late November, the network consists of a 151-mile loop and will provide bandwidth to government facilities and businesses. The project is mostly funded by the Medina … Read More
In October, Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net), hosted the panel discussion Community Broadband as a Path to Thriving Local Economies and Neighborhood Development as part of their Digital Dialogue series. As you may remember, our Christopher Mitchell was scheduled to participate. While Chris very much was looking forward to the opportinty to present, Delta Airlines had … Read More
