Localism

The United States must act aggressively to meet two core broadband challenges. One is to ensure that all Americans have affordable access to the Internet at levels sufficient to enable them to participate fully in modern life. The other is to ensure that all of America’s communities obtain the advanced communications capabilities they will need to survive and thrive in the increasingly competitive global economy.

Washington may soon make the biggest broadband investment in US history, and the first draft was written in Colorado. In August 2021, the Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that includes a historic $65 billion for broadband. This section draws directly from the BRIDGE Act, the bill I wrote with Coloradans to reflect our state’s struggles and successes against the digital divide. As usual, Colorado didn’t wait on Washington to act; cities created their own municipal networks and electric coops deployed fiber-optic networks in rural communities at world-class speeds and prices.

Only an estimated one in seven eligible households have enrolled in the Federal Communications Commission's Emergency Broadband Benefit Program so far. The majority of those who have received the benefit were grandfathered in through Lifeline, an existing federal subsidy program aimed primarily at telephone users.

With the first traunch of American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds going out to counties and cities in summer 2021, many local leaders have begun to propose projects and seek input from citizens about how they should be used.

The sad fact is that America’s news and information ecosystem is eating away at our democracy.  And we are not paying attention, partly because neither traditional nor new media are living up to their responsibility to cover the issue. They’re not about to discipline themselves. (And how laughable it is to see expensive ads from Facebook saying that it supports updating internet regulations when, of course, they will fight to the death anything resembling real public interest oversight.) The larger point here is that successful self-government depends upon a well-informed citizenry.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard starting in 2020, residents of Fairlawn (OH) were well-prepared to work and attend school online, while people living in some of the surrounding towns struggled with slower, less reliable internet service. Fairlawn, a relatively affluent Akron suburb of about 7,500 residents, built its own fiber-based internet service called FairlawnGig in 2017.

In a two-year research project of the Rural Broadband Consortium, C Spire led a group of companies that included Nokia, Microsoft, Facebook, and others to explore the challenges of cost-effective rural broadband deployment as well as what technologies and additional business model changes might help.

Demand for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity across the 4.74-square-mile Vinton, Iowa, community (est. pop.

Libraries Without Borders US (LWB US) has been working to promote access to information in underserved communities across the country since 2015. Fundamental to our work is designing and implementing innovative programs that reimagine libraries, often by transforming nontraditional spaces into hubs for community learning and engagement.

Wilson (NC) has had city-wide high-speed fiberoptic internet since 2008. “In Wilson, we see high-speed broadband as infrastructure,” said Grant Goings, Wilson City Manager. Everything started in 2006 when Goings spearheaded a municipal broadband project after he said private telecommunications companies would not invest in high-speed internet in their area.