After BEAD Allocation, Gigi Sohn Advocates Municipal Broadband to Close Coverage Gaps

Municipal broadband providers, which play a vital role in bridging the digital divide, should have equitable access to federal funding regardless of state regulatory roadblocks, said Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband. Speaking on the Broadband Money’s “Ready or Not?” podcast on Monday, Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] was critical of state prohibitions or restrictions on locally owned broadband, saying these laws are “anti-consumer and anti-competitive.” Sohn, a former nominee for commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, cited Wilson County, North Carolina as an example where the state had barred the community-owned broadband Greenlight from serving residents beyond the county line, leaving locals with few internet options from private companies that would cost an exorbitant amount of money. To address this issue, Sohn recently joined AAPB, a non-profit organization founded by state and municipal broadband officials to create a network of community broadband providers and promote the expansion of public broadband. These municipal network models would be essential in closing the digital divide because they are motivated by different incentives than private companies to “go to places that incumbent won’t,” Sohn argued. “They are not interested in return on investment,” she added. “They are interested in making sure everybody is connected.”