Localism

The Greendale (IN) city council approved a deal with Cincinnati Bell to bring fiber broadband to businesses and residents in the city. Mayor Alan Weiss says the fiber broadband will be a lot faster and more reliable than what Greendale businesses and residents are used to. Cincinnati Bell offers up to 1 GB which equals 1,000 MB per second. Currently, a lot of homes in Greendale have 25 MB per second or less. The minimum package offers 100 MB per second. Work to install fiber lines is expected to start in early 2022. It will take 18 months to two years to complete the installation.

Residents in unincorporated areas of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, will have broadband access within two years. AT&T will begin work to provide service to an estimated 20,000 county homes and businesses now that funding has officially been approved by the Vanderburgh County Council. Vanderburgh County Commissioners signed the contract with AT&T on Nov 8 for the $39.6 million project. Bill Soards, president of AT&T Indiana, said it will be about nine months before residents start receiving information to tell them service is available in there area.

Under the guidance of the San Joaquin Regional Broadband Consortium (SJVRBC), and with support from the California Emerging Technology Fund, the #SanJoaquinValleyNetwork initiative's goal is to bring ubiquitous broadband to the eight counties that compromise the San Joaquin Valley, among the most underserved regions of the state and underestimated in ability to lead and drive change. The San Joaquin Valley counties will be organizing and planning under the auspices of SJVRBC to obtain the maximum amount of financial assistance to implement the goals of #SanJoaquinValleyNetwork.

Located on the shores of Lake Erie, Cleveland suffers from the highest rates of child poverty and the lowest rates of broadband access among the large cities in the United States.

A group of Waldo County (ME) residents is working to create an affordable broadband utility that every resident in Searsmont and four other towns should be able to access. The task force has been collecting data from residents and mapping the community's level of current Internet service, which members believe is low. To address this problem, Searsmont and the neighboring communities of Liberty, Palermo, Montville and Freedom have formed the Southwest Waldo County Broadband Coalition, which has a long-term plan of creating a municipally-owned public broadband utility.

The Project OVERCOME pilot in Buffalo will provide equitable broadband access, enabling community members to engage with educational, telehealth, and government services. These services have been unattainable due to high internet costs and digital redlining. As part of the project, four Long-Term Evolution (LTE) antennas are being installed on top of the Buffalo General Medical Center (BGMC). These antennas will broadcast signals to the Fruit Belt using the newly available Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum.

In a letter to the California State Senate, Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) refused to sign Senate Bill 556 which would prohibit local electric utilities from "unreasonably denying" the leasing or licensing of utility poles to communications service providers. The bill would also require mobile service providers to measure and report their progress towards meeting the goal of universal broadband access for the areas they provide service.

In the late 1800s, people knew Turney, Missouri, as a major railroad stop. Today, little retail or industry remains in Turney, with Kansas City just a 30-minute drive away. Left behind by large internet service providers, the residents of Turney are gaining access to improved broadband access through the Project OVERCOME effort.

Two federal laws passed in 2021 increased broadband funding to states by more than $20 billion. That’s on top of the $38 billion that the Federal Communications Commission can spend. And, if Congress passes the federal infrastructure bill, another $65 billion would head to states and cities with the goal of providing high-speed internet to nearly all Americans. The FCC estimates it would cost $80 billion to deliver broadband internet to everyone. All this spending would put us there.

Missouri’s Public Service Commission (PSC) is allowing Ameren Missouri to lease a section of unused fiber to another company seeking to expand broadband coverage. Ameren sought a 20-year “dark fiber” lease agreement with MCC Network Services to provide internet service along a 1.6 mile stretch between where the Mississippi River crosses from Missouri to Illinois.