Community Broadband Media Roundup - August 29

Colorado

Voters to Decide Whether El Paso County, Colo., Will Provide High-Speed Internet to Less-Populated Areas by Matt Steiner, The Gazette

Illinois

Comcast’s $70 gigabit deal is shockingly difficult to sign up for by Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica

Massachusetts

Living without broadband still a reality for many towns by G. Michael Dobbs, The Reminder

Mississippi

Rural communities left behind due to lack of high-speed internet by Zack Orsborn, Daily Journal

North Carolina

Tillis helped big business monopolize internet services in NC by Bill Faison, News & Observer

One of the first pieces of anti-resident, pro-big business legislation to run through the House was the bill that Tillis now touts as being a taxpayer bill. It was not. It was a power and money grab by wealthy out-of-state companies to disadvantage North Carolina residents – nothing more. The residents lost.

 

Ohio

Editorial: Embrace group's effort to bring high-speed broadband to Stark by Canton Repository Editorial Board

Tennessee

Commissioner, senator spar over broadband by Brian Graves, Cleveland Daily Banner

AT&T says Google Fiber's make ready pole proposal could compromise CWA contract by Sean Buckley

Washington

Seattle public broadband hinges on a President Hillary Clinton by Devin Glaser, Crosscut

But the party lines drawn at the national level aren’t reflected in the local communities aspiring to build these networks. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance analyzed over 150 communities with municipal networks, and found more than 70% of them voted reliably Republican.

“At the federal level there is more partisanship, while at the local level there is very little,” said Christopher Mitchell, the director of Community Broadband Networks at the Institute. “Local leaders tend to be more pragmatic. People in DC tend to be shaped much more by lobbying and powerful moneyed interests. At the federal and state level, they have little contact with the realities of Main Street, whereas they hear constantly from the big cable and telephone companies that everyone has good access and there are few problems.”

General

After Legal Defeat, US Mayors Vow to Continue Municipal Broadband Fight by Sam Gustin, Motherboard Vice 

In the wake of the ruling, some community broadband advocates say the focus must shift away from the FCC and toward the states that have passed laws restricting publicly-owned networks.

“We need to go state by state to overturn these laws, while working with cities to develop their networks,” Christopher Mitchell, Director of Community Broadband Networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, told Motherboard.

Mayors Slam Smackdown of Next Century Cities by John Eggerton, Multichannel News

City leaders support local broadband decisions by Amanda Ziadeh, GCN

U.S. Mayors Raise Concerns About Court Ruling Restricting Broadband Deployment by Amir Nasr, Morning Consult  

Google Fiber’s struggles highlight value in using existing dark, shared fiber assets by Sean Buckley, Fierce Telecom

While leveraging millimeter wireless is a less expensive alternative to wireline internet service, the service provider can also tap into a bevy of dark fiber networks being built in a number of U.S. cities. 

Three FCC Rural Broadband Experiment Awardees Rejected Over Letters of Credit by Joan Engebretson, Telecompetitor

Municipalities Dream Big on Broadband by Mariam Baksh, The American Prospect

For years, nearly 40 percent of people in rural America have been saddled with slow internet speeds and no opportunity to get broadband internet services which provide fast connections. Yet internet service providers (ISPs), such as AT&T and Verizon, that can’t turn enough profit from rural investments have also made it almost impossible for competitors to provide alternatives. With the assistance of groups like the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a network of state lawmakers and corporate officials, they’re spending millions of dollars lobbying for laws that bar municipalities from implementing alternative services.

Photo of the cow courtesy of Dominik Schraudolf via pixaby