On February 3rd, 2020, the FCC opened the 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Priority Window, a six month period in which federally recognized Tribes or Alaska Native Villages have the opportunity to apply for licenses to unassigned spectrum over their Tribal lands. This week on the podcast, we have two guests from MuralNet — CEO Mariel Triggs and Edyael Casaperalta, Legal Advisor and Policy Strategist. MuralNet, a nonprofit that focuses on helping indigenous people build their own networks, has been working to spread the word about the Rural Tribal Priority Window.

Historically, national Internet access companies have fallen short in bringing their services to people living on tribal lands. A few Tribes have been able to develop their own community networks, but others have found roadblocks when competing with large ISPs for spectrum or for funding. As a result, Tribal communities are some of the least connected in the U.S. Mariel and Edyael discuss how fixed wireless, using the 2.5 Ghz band spectrum is well suited to help solve this persistent problem. They share some of the challenges they’ve faced and offer some tips with deployment and in working to develop policy.

We learn more about the criteria that tribes need to meet in order to apply and how, even if they don’t plan on building their own network, owning access to the spectrum is, nevertheless, empowering. Tribes may not wish to operate a community network, but owning the airwaves above their land gives them some control over how those airwaves are used.

To learn more about the claiming the airwaves over Tribal Land, check out MuralNet’s website here. They're always willing to answer questions and to help with the process.

Legal...

People with an interest in municipal networks usually know about Ponca City, Oklahoma's free municipal fixed wireless network because it's been around for years. In the summer of 2019, however, community leaders decided it was time to start offering Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and created Ponca City Broadband.

Dave Williams, Director of Technology Service from Ponca City, comes on the show this week to discuss the new utility. Dave and Christopher review the history of the fixed wireless network and the factors that led Ponca City to shift toward FTTH. Dave explains how economic development, changing technology, and an eye toward the future convinced Ponca City that it was time to invest in citywide FTTH for residents.

The city has been able to take advantage of some cost saving strategies with the benefit of decades of technical know-how associated the municipal network and the electric utility. Additionally, they're implementing marketing approaches and customer service techniques that make Ponca City Broadband stand apart from other Internet access providers.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

This show is 27 minutes long and can be played on this page or via iTunes or the tool of your choice using this feed. You can listen to the interview on this page or visit the...

When Mayor Gary Fuller of Opelika, Alabama, was on the podcast back in 2013, the community was building their municipal Fiber-to-the-Home network. He's back this week to talk about all the events that have occurred in his community since then; Opelika has been a whirlwind of activity which has centered around the battle to expand their network, OPS One. Mayor Fuller is joined in the wings by Derek Lee, Director of Opelika Power Services, and Joey Motley, City Administrator, who are on hand to help him with some of the details.

Mayor Fuller and Christopher discuss the reasons why the community wanted to invest in a municipal fiber optic network. In addition to improving their electric utility service with smart grid applications, the community needed an option for better Internet access. Rates from the incumbent were high, services were poor, and folks had had enough. Once the network spanned the entire city, neighboring communities wanted OPS One, but state law prevented expansion.

Christopher and the Mayor talk about the legislative battle to expand the network that went on for several years and how Opelika finally realized that the big telecom and cable companies and their lobbyists were just too powerful to beat at the State Capitol. They talk about how, even though Opelika chose to privatize the network, the community feels better off today than they would have otherwise and would do it all again.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

This show is 27 minutes long and can be played on this page or ...

It’s the end of the year once again, which means the Community Broadband Networks Initiative team at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance takes their place in front of the mic for the predictions show. In addition to offering our expectations for 2020, we review what happened this past year and compare it to the predictions we made at this time last year. Get ready for some opinions and laughs.

Once again, Communications Specialist Jess Del Fiacco and Research Associate Katie Kienbaum weigh in along with Christopher and Lisa. Our newest addition to the team, Michelle Andrews, joins for the first time this year; Michelle is our GIS and Data Visualization Researcher.

We review advancements from cooperatives, the growing interest in municipal projects and open access, and new approaches. We talk about realizations of models we anticipated and also some that took us by surprise. The crew discusses state and federal legislative changes and funding, partnerships, and Christopher even gives Comcast a break. You don’t want to miss this!

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

This show is 42 minutes long and can be played on this page or via iTunes or the tool of your choice using this feed. You can listen to the interview on this page or visit the Community Broadband Bits page.

Read the transcript for the episode.

Listen to ...