The Divide: Gigi Sohn on growing, funding and defending public broadband networks

According to data from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), there are now more than 400 public broadband networks in the US, serving over 700 communities. Moreover, several (but not all) communities have prevailed in recent years at changing existing state laws preventing the launch of public broadband networks, including most recently Colorado and Minnesota. That leaves 16 states with legal roadblocks still in place, according to Community Networks. That's a fair amount of progress ... but there's more work to do to address the "fear and hesitation" that's stopping some communities from pursuing the public model, says Gigi Sohn. Sohn, who took on the role of executive director for the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) in 2023, says she is seeing growing interest in public broadband networks. But several factors are still stunting growth, including some communities taking a "wait and see" approach as it pertains to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. In other words, some communities that may be interested in pursuing public broadband want to see if BEAD solves their problems first.