Research from ILSR’s Hannah Trostle on the amount of cooperatives across America that are delivering gigabit Internet service to their member-owners was featured by Joan Engebretson of Telecompetitor.… Read More
In a roundup of the best podcasts that are enabling the sharing economy, Shareable shared both our Broadband Bits podcast and our Local Energy Rules podcast, a wonderful honor for us.… Read More
A few of us from the Community Broadband Networks Initiative recently attended the BBC Community Toolkit Program & Economic Development conference in downtown Minneapolis. On the first day, Gigi Sohn, Special Counselor for External Affairs for Chairman Wheeler at the FCC received the award from the Coalition for Local Internet Choice for the Local Internet Choice … Read More
On October 14, 2016, Community Broadband Networks initiative director Christopher Mitchell was interviewed by Mike McIntee of AM950 in Minnesota. The subject of the conversation centered on Christopher’s recently released report – North Carolina Connectivity: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. He discussed the big difference in Internet infrastructure funding between rural and urban areas in North Carolina as well as in Minnesota. The barriers to greater connectivity vary between states but are typically an issue of a state’s authority over its communities.… Read More
Interested in learning more about the status of municipal broadband networks around the country? Follow our in-depth coverage at MuniNetworks.org, the home for our Community Broadband Networks initiative. We publish there twice daily. The results of a study are in and its authors recommend Stark County invest in a regional middle mile fiber-optic network, establish a … Read More
North Carolina’s digital divide between urban and rural communities is increasing dangerously in a time when high quality Internet access is more important than ever. Rural and urban areas of North Carolina are essentially living in different realities, based on the tides of private network investment where rural communities are severely disadvantaged. The state has relied … Read More
When big corporate incumbent providers fear a hint of competition from a new entrant, they pull out all the stops to quash any potential threat. One of the first lines of offense involves the courts. Iowa City now leases its fiber to Cedar Rapids based ImOn and to stop it, Mediacom is reprocessing an old argument. … Read More
In case you missed it, we launched a new podcast series last week. It’s called “Building Local Power” and it tells the story of how we at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, with our strong allies, are working to break the chains of monopoly power in all sectors of our economy and build local economies. There … Read More
We have recently covered state laws preempting local control, especially in North Carolina and Tennessee. State governments are supposed to be “laboratories of democracy” and municipalities are sub-parts of the state. Preemption is ostensibly to prevent problems, but instead these state laws limit local governments’ solutions for ensuring better connectivity. At the same time, people trust … Read More
