Community Broadband Media Roundup - March 2

Arizona

Star Valley joins county to plan for broadband by Teresa McQuerrey, Payson Roundup

Colorado

Rural Colorado sees more broadband options coming online. But getting up to speed is taking longer than anticipated in some areas by Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun 

"To be able to serve the entire region, all 100,000 people out here, it’s going to be a hybrid of a fiber backbone, fiber to the premise in communities where appropriate, and a wireless overlay to get to those areas where (fiber) is not cost-effective infrastructure,” she said. “Farmer Bob is probably not going to have the dollars to lay fiber down his 20-mile long driveway. And that’s OK. But he and that household do not deserve any less than anybody else just because they live in the rural areas.”

Georgia

USDA invests $5 million in broadband for rural Georgia communities, AllonGeorgia 

Maine

State releases plan to bring broadband to 150 Maine communities, WMTW 

"Broadband is a lifeline for rural communities to connect for businesses, to charge credit cards, or order inventory, or for students to be able to do homework and take classes, for communities to have access to health care," Department of Economic Community Development Commissioner Heather Johnson said.

Maine faces obstacles in broadband expansion efforts by Caitlin Andrews, GovTech 

Maryland

Gearing up to fight for rural broadband by Candice Spector, The Star Democrat (account required)

Massachusetts 

SELCO announces two major capital initiative by Melanie Petrucci, Community Advocate 

Minnesota

Broadband bound for Cherry, Great Scott Townships, Hibbing Daily Tribune 

Missouri

Over $600,000 for broadband expansion in Dallas County, Buffalo Reflex 

New Mexico

Bill would speed broadband access by Scott Turner, Albuquerque Journal 

Ohio

Cincinnati Bell, Butler Rural Electric Co-op deal signals growing interest for telco electric partnerships by Bernie Arnason, telecompetitor 

A quarter of Cuyahoga county homes have no Internet access -- why that matters and how it’s changing by Afl Scruggs, Cleveland 

Virginia 

Thousands of rural Virginians could get broadband access through Dominion Energy, Prince George Electric Cooperative partnership, Dominion Energy

General

Who gets 5G — and who gets left behind — has some worried about digital inequality by Paul Flahive, NPR 

Tackling the tribal digital divide by Jill Patton, Stanford Magazine 

In the United States, 17 million of the 21 million people who lack fixed-line broadband access live in rural areas. (That’s one-third of all rural Americans.) The issue is twice as bad on rural tribal lands, where two-thirds of people lack high-speed internet connectivity. Eighteen percent of people living on reservations have no home internet access at all, according to a 2019 study by the American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University.

Why your state has terrible Internet access by Karl Bode, Vice 

The FCC wants to hear more about net neutrality, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Pew report looks at state broadband funding by Joan Engebretson, telecompetitor