Institute for Local Self-Reliance

A new initiative called Connected Beyond the Classroom will leverage city-owned fiber infrastructure and $27 million in CARES Act funds to connect students across San Antonio’s 50 most-vulnerable neighborhoods in a bid to close the digital divide and ensure teachers, students, and their parents can continue to learn this fall and beyond. While state law limits the communications services that municipal

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, is currently experiencing firsthand the consequences of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC's) 2018 preemption of local governments’ authority to regulate 5G infrastructure in their cities.

The 2020 edition of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Profiles of Monopoly: Big Cable and Telecom report analyzes the latest data available from the Federal Communications Commission to investigate broadband competition in communities across the country. Thanks largely to the power of monopoly corporations like Comcast, Charter, and AT&T, millions of Americans still do not have a real choice when it comes to their Internet service.

Tucked away in Kishacoquillas Valley (also known as Big Valley) (PA) between Stone and Jacks Mountains lies a 120-foot repurposed HAM radio tower, now the base of operations for the Rural Broadband Cooperative (RBC), a group bringing fixed wireless to a rural Pennsylvania community. RBC remains one of the many groups around the country making use of community ties to address connectivity issues in places where monopoly Internet service providers have for decades refused to invest.

On July 27, Rep Deb Haaland (D-NM) and Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the Deploying the Internet by Guaranteeing Indian Tribes Autonomy over Licensing on Reservations Act (DIGITAL Act), a bill which ends the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) practice of selling wireless spectrum rights on the lands of Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations and grants ownership, management, and governance of all spectrum to those groups in perpetuity.

Corporate control over our broadband — an essential public infrastructure — is leaving many of us disconnected, underserved, or paying too much for substandard service. By creating public options and fostering competition, cities and states can usher in fast, affordable, and reliable Internet access, which is a necessary prerequisite for participating in economic and civic life.

As the pandemic drags on, local governments across the country are looking for ways to connect their residents, who need better Internet access for everything from online education to annual taxes to telehealth appointments.