Local/Municipal

Community-owned broadband networks are thriving across the country. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Community Network Map shows a record 795 public networks delivering fast, affordable and reliable internet—hardly the “magical thinking” Annette Meeks described in her recent commentary in the Minnesota Star Tribune on the Connect Willmar Initiative.

The City of Dublin (OH) and altafiber are excited to announce that the majority of single-family home addresses will have access to altafiber’s cutting-edge multi-gig XGS-PON fiber network by the end of 2025, marking a significant milestone in the partnership. Once this phase of the project is complete, more than 15,000 single-family home addresses in the City of Dublin will have access to fast, reliable broadband connectivity that is essential to fully leverage employment, education, and healthcare opportunities in the modern economy.

I know a number of counties and cities that have adopted dig once policies that require that every major road project includes burying empty conduit along new or reworked roads. A lot of them have found out that dig once is more complicated than they imagined. It’s a common misconception that dig once just means laying conduit in the ground while roads are dug up for repaving. It’s not that easy.

Today’s defining technology is the internet, along with the interlocking digital tools that contributed to and resulted from its inception. Artificial intelligence may well usher in its own technology epoch, but even this branch of computer science is as beholden to the internet — as the internet is to electricity. How and whether high-speed internet access is like the electrification of homes can teach us something. Getting online and knowing what to do once you’re there matters.

The fate of a $24.5 million broadband project in Minnesota came down to one vote at a City Council meeting. Seven council members faced a choice: forge ahead with an ambitious plan to build a city-owned municipal broadband network, or heed a last-minute request from telecommunications giant Charter Communications to pause the project.

The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has launched the Broadband Equity Study Story Map, an interactive tool designed to visualize internet access disparities across the city. The Story Map combines data analysis with personal experiences from residents impacted by the digital divide, offering a comprehensive review of the challenges and opportunities for improving broadband access. The Broadband Equity Study Story Map aims to:

The Rio Grande Valley Broadband Coalition unveiled the RGV Broadband and Digital Opportunity Plan, a bold initiative to ensure every home, business, and community anchor institution in the region has access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. Much of the RGV still lacks reliable internet access, holding the region back in a world that increasingly depends on digital tools. The RGV Broadband and Digital Opportunity Plan is a roadmap to change that, focusing on:

Like most internet service providers, municipalities face their fair share of challenges when building broadband networks. Particularly, they need to convince financiers that it’s a worthwhile investment. Securing funds is especially tricky when the incumbents don’t want to play ball. Ernie Staten, Public Service Department Director for the City of Fairlawn, Ohio, said when Fairlawn asked some local internet service providers if they were interested in a partnership to build a citywide network, they basically laughed at the idea.

The City of Seattle’s Information Technology department (Seattle IT) supports digital equity programs and services as a coalition organization. The City began its digital equity work in the mid-1990s in response to community advocacy concerning access to information technology.

Conexon Connect, the internet service provider (ISP) arm of rural fiber broadband leader Conexon, has reached another key milestone in Florida.