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Connecting 21st Century Cities: A Policy Agenda For Broadband Stakeholders
Next Century Cities, a nonpartisan coalition of 100 communities working to expand Internet access, recently published "Connecting 21st Century Communities: A Policy Agenda for Broadband Stakeholders." This resource brings together timely research, best practices, and examples of successful approaches from around the U.S. and the world - all focused on encouraging ubiquitous Internet access for all. Chris Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the driving force behind MuniNetworks.org, serves as Next Century Cities' Policy Director.
From the report:
This Policy Agenda offers policies that will move communities in the direction of fast, affordable, and reliable Internet access available to all. Expanding high quality Internet access in a community, whether large or small, can yield a multitude of benefits for residents—from improved health services, to new opportunities for small businesses, to higher property values, to a stronger local economy.
The policy agenda addresses five key stakeholder groups:
- Local Government
- State Government
- Federal Government
- Philanthropy
- Community
Within each category, the report offers ways to optimize stakeholder participation and maximize their impact. This policy agenda provides information on a number of other resources so is an excellent starting point for any community leader interested in learning more about improving local connectivity. You can obtain the report online at the Next Century Cities website or download the printer friendly PDF below.
New Policy Agenda from Next Century Cities Now Available
Next Century Cities, the nonpartisan coalition of 100 communities across the country, recently announced its new publication, "Connecting 21st Century Communities: A Policy Agenda for Broadband Stakeholders." ILSR's Christopher Mitchell serves as the Policy Director for Next Century Cities.
This policy agenda covers a wide array of topics at the federal, state, and local level. Each recommendation aims to move communities closer to ubiquitous Internet access. Suggestions include smart municipal codes, research techniques, and ways to empower citizens. In addition to establishing a detailed road map, the agenda provides real-world examples from the U.S. and elsewhere. This document is comprehensive, bringing together a large volume of the best information from multiple sources.
From the Next Century Cities Press Release:
“In the 21st century, Internet access has emerged as more than just an information superhighway – it has become critical infrastructure — connecting citizens, businesses, and communities alike to new opportunities,” said Deb Socia, Executive Director of Next Century Cities. “This new policy agenda from Next Century Cities is designed to give communities across the country a guide for how leaders from all levels of government, as well as other stakeholders, can work together to make tangible progress in creating the broadband infrastructure needed today.”
You can also download the PDF version for a more printer friendly document.
Whatever format you choose, Next Century Cities' new policy agenda is a must for your library.
Holyoke: A Massachusetts Municipal Light Plant Seizes Internet Access Business Opportunities
Fifteen years ago, Holyoke Gas & Electric (HG&E) began its incremental fiber deployment to meet the need for better connectivity in the community. Since then, they have invested savings created by initial and subsequent investments. Over the years, HG&E expanded their services, becoming the ISP for several local business customers in two nearby communities. HG&E also established a regional interconnection agreement and it is now an ISP for municipal agencies in a third community 30 miles away.
The Berkman Center's most recent report, report, "Holyoke: A Massachusetts Municipal Light Plant Seizes Internet Access Business Opportunities,” documents their story.
From the Abstract:
The Holyoke Gas & Electric Department’s telecom division competes with Comcast and Charter and serves 300 business customers and numerous public buildings. It has shown steady growth in revenues, and $500,000 in net earnings over the past decade. It also saves the city at least $300,000 a year on various Internet access and networking services. HG&E's telecom division is also now providing a variety of services to three other municipalities. Finally, the utility is considering a residential high-speed Internet access offering, something the muni in neighboring Westfield is piloting later this year. HG&E’s success in a competitive environment was achieved without any debt issuance, tax, or subsidy from electricity or gas ratepayers.
Key Findings:
Municipal Networks and Economic Development
When a community invests in a municipal broadband network, it often does so because it hopes to reap economic benefits from the network. Many people and organizations have explored the positive relationship between municipal Internet networks and economic development, including a White House report published in January 2015. Municipal networks create jobs by ensuring businesses have fast, affordable, and reliable Internet access; the old DSL and cable networks just don't cut it. These networks improve the productivity of existing businesses and attract new businesses to communities, allow individuals to work from home more effectively, support advanced healthcare and security systems, strengthen local housing markets, and represent long term social investments in the form of better-connected schools and libraries. They also create millions of dollars in savings that can be reinvested into local economies.
"Upgrading to higher speed broadband lets consumers use the Internet in new ways, increases the productivity of American individuals and businesses, and drives innovation throughout the digital ecosystem." - Executive Office of President Obama
When municipalities choose to deploy fiber networks, they introduce Internet services into the community that are not only significantly faster than DSL and cable, but more reliable. With more reliable fiber connections, businesses and individuals are far less likely to experience temporary blackouts that can halt productivity in vexing and expensive ways. And because these networks are locally-owned and operated, business owners do not have to spend hours on the phone with an absentee Internet Service Provider like AT&T in the (albeit unlikely) event of a problem.
We at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance have catalogued numerous examples of economic development achievements that have occurred as a result of local governments deploying a municipal broadband network. Below, you can find a wide range of articles, studies, anecdotes, and other resources that speak to the economic successes enabled by municipal networks, organized by topic:
- Job Creation
- Business Attraction
- Business Support
- Telecommuting
- Research
- Tech and Entrepreneurship
- Savings
- Property Values
- General Resources
Keep up to date with all things community broadband by subscribing to a once-per-week email with stories about community broadband networks.
Municipal networks create jobs:
Look no further than Morristown, Tennessee, for an example of job creation thanks to municipal fiber. The city took advantage of its local electrical utility, Morristown Utility Systems, to provide gigabit speeds, and businesses jumped at the opportunity. In 2013, Oddello Industries, a furniture manufacturer, brought 228 jobs to the community after investing in a $4.4 million site expansion in Morristown. More recently, a call center looking to relocate to the city was wowed by the municipal utility’s offer to install fiber for free because the city valued the future economic benefits the call center would bring to Morristown over the cost of the fiber installation.
- Our economic development fact sheet outlines several of the job creation opportunities that have resulted from municipal networks.
- In 2012, Spirit Aerosystems opened up a new manufacturing facility in Chanute, Kansas, creating 150 jobs that require high quality broadband Internet.
- In Lebanon, Virginia, defense contractor Northrup Grumman and IT consultant CGI announced the creation of 700 jobs paying twice the median wage.
- HomeServe, a home repair company, expanded its call center to 140 employees because of Chattanooga, Tennessee’s robust municipal broadband infrastructure; in Chattanooga, HomeServe employees could get faster residential service than executives had in the company's Miami headquarters.
- In 2015, Hardide Coatings, a surface coating manufacturer located in Henry County, Virginia, that relies on the municipal broadband provider MiNet, added 29 high-paying jobs to the local economy.
"You can't grow jobs with slow Internet." - Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore
- The Dalles, Oregon, received a much-needed economic boost in the form of 200 jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenues when Google invested $1.2 billion in a data center that used the city’s municipal fiber network, Q-Life.
- A new data center in Dawsonville, Georgia, created 12 high-paying jobs and expanded the local tax base thanks to the municipally-owned North Georgia Network.
- Increased competition in Chattanooga, Tennessee, due to the city’s powerful municipal fiber network, induced Comcast to bring 150 new jobs to town.
- Thomasville, Georgia’s municipal fiber network revitalized the community’s downtown and brought more than 200 jobs to Main Street.
- Tacoma, Washington has, for many years, been on the cutting edge of municipal Internet deployment; a 2001 quote from the city's mayor revealed that Tacoma benefited early on from the network - attracting over 100 companies and creating 700 jobs in 18 months.
- The laying of an open-access fiber-optic network, called the Three Ring Binder, in Maine created 400 jobs in the construction industry.
Municipal networks attract new businesses:
The city of Mount Vernon, Washington has two things in common with our country’s first president, but unlike George, it boasts an impressive municipal broadband network that has attracted high-tech businesses. For example, a digital legal firm, Blank Law, relocated from Seattle to Mount Vernon in order to take advantage of faster speeds offered by the city’s municipal broadband network. While high-speed Internet was not the only reason Blank Law cited for choosing Mount Vernon over other towns (other reasons include quality of life and free parking), it played a significant role. Fiber is rarely the sole reason for a relocation, but it can often be a deciding factor.
- Zeyuan, a Chinese wood floor manufacturer, and GOK International, a Chinese furniture assembly plant, built manufacturing centers in Danville, Virginia, knowing they would benefit from connecting to the city’s municipal broadband network.
- Expedia, the online travel giant, kept many hundreds of jobs in Springfield, Missouri in the form of a call center that relies heavily on the high bandwidth of Springfield’s municipal network.
- EnableComp, a medical claims processing company, expanded with 200 new jobs in Tullahoma, Tennessee, thanks in large part to the municipal fiber network LighTUBe.
"It's almost a feeling of disbelief when we tell companies today we can provide a gig to your business and to your house...These companies want to go where they can see the gig service." - Marshall Ramsey, President of the Morristown, Tennessee Chamber of Commerce
- Pixel Magic, a visual effects producer, and Tapes Again, a media reproduction and processing company, both set up shop in Lafayette, Louisiana to support the state’s burgeoning film industry — and access to the municipally-owned LUS Fiber greatly facilitated these activities.
- An industrial park in Cedar Falls, Iowa went from having 27 businesses and $5 million in taxable valuation to having 160 businesses and $270 million in valuation in the twenty years since it hooked up to the city's municipal fiber network.
- Faneuil, a customer care center, and SPARTA Inc., a defense contractor, were attracted to Martinsville, Virginia in large part because of the city’s municipal network, MiNet.
- A film production company, Exodus FX, opened its new special effects studios in Wilson, North Carolina, citing high-speed municipal broadband as a major reason for locating its services in the small city.
- In the small Minnesota town of Gibbon, the fiber network from the RS Fiber Cooperative convinced the owner of Advocate 3D to take up residence in town where the family could live the small-town life but the business could still obtain the high-speed, reliable connectivity they needed for their 3D printing business.
Municipal networks serve existing businesses and keep critical jobs in town:
The small Minnesota town of Windom nearly entered crisis mode when Fortune Trucking, a local company that employed 47 people in a town of 4,600, announced that slow Internet speeds might force it to leave town. Although the company’s headquarters were located a mile outside of the Windom’s jurisdiction, community members successfully lobbied to bring municipal fiber to Fortune, saving those jobs and stabilizing the local economy.
- MagnaTech, a towing and RV accessory manufacturer, decided to keep its business in Chanute, Kansas when the city installed a fiber network, reports the Chanute Tribune.
- Alpha Natural Resources, a coal mining company, stayed in Bristol, Virginia, thanks to the BVU municipal fiber network
- When the city of Princeton, Illinois set up a municipal broadband network, it kept 300 jobs in the community with the global industrial machinery company, Ingersoll Rand.
- In Longmont, Colorado, a billboard production company, Circle Graphics, used the city’s municipal broadband network, NextLight, to improve its ability to quickly deliver products to customers.
- The city of Aurora, Illinois, is offering local business seminars on how to best use its municipal fiber services.
- IT company Exbabylon LLC expands and recruits talent in Newport, Washington because of Pend Oreille County PUD's fiber network.
- Millennium Capital and Recovery Corporation, a local Hudson, Ohio, business, announced the move to a new state-of-the-art headquarters to take advantage of the municipal fiber network Velocity Broadband.
"Municipal broadband can be a powerful lever against the digital divide that condemns people to the isolation and reduced economic opportunities experienced by many of our low-income, disabled, and people of color community members" - Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Councilmember
- In this Podcast, Chris speaks with Curtis Dean of Iowa Municipal Utilities about the prevalence of municipal networks in that state, focusing in on economic development results starting at 11:10. Dean highlights Hansen’s Clothing, a high-end men’s clothing manufacturer in Spencer, Iowa that expanded its online business exponentially when it connected to the municipal broadband network.
Municipal networks support home-based productivity:
- In 2010, DirecTV announced the creation of a virtual call center, allowing 100 residents in southwestern Virginia to work from home, relying solely upon municipal broadband access.
- 150 home-based English teachers in Powell, Wyoming were connected to students in South Korea by the Korean venture capital firm, Skylake Incuvest; this unorthodox pairing was made possible by Powell's investment in FTTH.
- Policymakers in Ashland, Oregon, hope to use the city’s fiber network, Ashland Fiber Net, to support internet-based home businesses.
- The benefits of working from home are plentiful, but telecommuters need high quality next generation broadband in order to take full advantage of this arrangement.
Municipal networks advance healthcare, education, and research:
- Danville, Virginia’s open-access municipal broadband, nDanville, has long served the Danville Regional Medical Center, one of the city’s largest employers.
- Medical companies Ohio Health and Cardinal Health; Battelle Memorial Institute, a non-profit that relies on quantum computing to encrypt information; and numerous educational facilities use Dublin, Ohio’s municipally-owned fiber network, Dublink, for their healthcare, education and research needs.
"We are embarking on new initiatives with our local school district and regional colleges and universities to leverage broadband and to facilitate discussion between schools and the business community to strengthen, retain and attract quality workforce" - Dana McDaniel, Deputy City Manager of Dublin, Ohio
- The Molecular Pathology Laboratory Network (MPLN) located its primary backup facility in Morristown, Tennessee, where it can have access to high-speed municipal broadband.
- Holyoke, a municipality in Western Massachusetts, saw a huge economic development benefit when the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computer Center relocated to the town, which boasts an impressive municipally-owned broadband infrastructure, as well as a commitment to energy efficiency.
- Lakeland, Florida invested in dark fiber community infrastructure, and has since reaped the rewards; the Florida Polytechnic University and Lakeland Regional Health, a medical center, both rely on the network for their operations. (Jump to 16:30 of the Broadband Bits Podcast for more details).
Municipal networks initiate tech booms and incubate start-ups:
- Lafayette, Louisiana has seen multiple tech companies move to the city, creating thousands of jobs and rebranding the city the “Silicon Bayou.”
- Mesa, Arizona, which has long been on the cutting edge in terms of laying city-wide fiber conduit and providing firms next-generation infrastructure, will be the new site of a $2 billion Apple global command center.
- In Indianola, Iowa, the publicly-owned municipal broadband utility partnered with Simpson College and the Indianola Development Association to create a student-business incubator for budding entrepreneurs.
"...in the 21st century, in this age of innovation and technology, so much of the prosperity that we're striving for, so many of the jobs we want to create, depend on our digital economy" - President Barack Obama, Speech at Cedar Falls Utilities
- One Bay Area city, San Leandro, has used a city-owned fiber conduit to rival Silicon Valley tech companies, and now houses the world’s largest cluster of 3-D printing firms, along with the Westlake / OSIsoft Technology Complex, a tech campus.
- The city of Dublin, Ohio, is home to the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center, a combination start-up incubator and data center located in the city’s metro center offices that now lists more than 80 tenants.
Municipal networks save money, which can be reinvested in local economies:
- The municipal government of Mount Vernon, Washington saves $100,000 a year thanks to its open access municipal fiber network.
- Ponca City, Oklahoma, residents have saved nearly $4 million a year in avoided ISP costs since the community switched to a municipal fiber network.
- In the town of Spanish Fork, Utah, a municipal network is responsible for community savings of $2 million annually, as well as local government revenues exceeding $1 million, which can be used for community projects and initiatives.
- Howard County, Maryland, has seen significant public savings (of up to $3 million a year) and impressive technological advances in its school system since switching to municipal broadband services.
Municipal networks increase home values:
- Housing prices increased by 50 percent in one year when Google decided to locate a data center in the city of The Dalles, Oregon, in 2006 on account of its advanced technological infrastructure and high-speed municipal broadband access.
- A study by Broadband Communities revealed that access to FTTH services increased the value of a $300,000 home by an average of $5,000 - $6,000.
- Another study, this by the Fiber-To-The-Home Council Americas in conjunction with researchers from the University of Colorado, showed that single family homes that can boast a FTTH connection are worth, on average, 3.1 percent more than their fiberless counterparts.
General resources on economic development and municipal / broadband networks:
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- We maintain a Google Docs spreadsheet with many of the examples we have seen of economic development resulting from municipal networks.
- This White House report (which, by the way, utilized ILSR data!) finds that the existence of municipal networks and the market competition that these networks stimulate has tremendous economic benefits for local businesses and communities. The 37-page report highlights the successes of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Wilson, North Carolina; Lafayette, Louisiana; Scott County, Minnesota; Leverett, Massachusetts; and the Choctaw Nation Tribal Area in Oklahoma.
- The New York Times highlights municipal fiber in a recent article: “For the Tech Savvy With a Need for Speed, a Limited Choice of Towns With Fiber.”
- A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), “Federal Broadband Deployment Programs and Small Business,” argues that municipal broadband access positively affects small businesses by allowing them to streamline operations and improve efficiency.
- Why do many municipal broadband networks end up being built in conservative districts, crossing political lines? Jim Baller, Joanne Hovis, and Ashley Stelfox of the Coalition for Local Internet Choice, in conjunction with Broadband Communities’ Masha Zaegar, argue that job creation and economic development is the “killer app” for local fiber networks.
- Robert Pepper, Vice President of Global Technology Policy at the multinational tech company, Cisco, published an op-ed in The Huffington Post, which highlights the need for universal broadband adoption. Read: The Key to Social and Economic Development? Broadband Adoption.
"The message to policymakers is clear: If you want to increase economic growth, focus on broadband." - Robert Pepper, Vice President of Global Technology Policy at Cisco
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- Corporate site selectors have been placing more and more emphasis on broadband Internet access as they look for locations in which their companies can thrive. For more on this, read: “The Importance of Broadband to Economic Development.”
- Does Broadband Boost Local Economic Development? ask researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California. They find that broadband access has a statistically significant economic benefit in the fields of business management, utilities, and technology.
- The law firm of Baller Herbst Stokes & Lide, PC has fought on the side of local governments across the country as they seek to bring municipal networks to their communities; the group's website dedicates a page to economic development resources that offers several useful studies and reports.
- A Novermber 2016 report from the consulting firm Analysis Group and funded by Fiber-to-the-Home council shows how competition drives lower prices and better download speeds for everyone. Specifically, the report focused on markets with Gigabit service.
- Chris interviews Michael Curri, President of Strategic Networks Group, an organization that provides technical advice regarding broadband Internet to both firms and municipalities; Curri indicates a multiplier effect of ten times - meaning a return of $10 for every dollar invested where economies effectively utilize broadband.
- Many communities, like Bozeman, Montana, view municipal broadband as a potential economic growth model that will allow them to catch up to other cities that have embraced high-speed Internet access; in this Community Bits Podcast, Chris speaks with Brit Fontenot, Economic Development Director for the city of Bozeman; David Fine, Bozeman Economic Development Specialist; and the President of Hoplite Industries, Anthony Cochenour.
- Dewayne Hendricks, a self-identified “serial entrepreneur,” explains the need for strong wired and wireless Internet connections in entrepreneurship.
Video and audio resources on economic development and municipal networks:
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- Renowned journalist Ezra Klein interviews Harvard Law professor and Internet expert, Susan Crawford, about municipal networks on VOX.
- President Obama announces his plan to expand broadband access in the United States in January 2015.
- In Tennessee, seven municipal networks - including the ones in Chattanooga, Morristown, and Tullahoma - have spurred job growth, and positioned the state for the future, reports WBIR.
- NBC Montana covers the City of Bozeman’s plan to spur economic growth through its municipal network.
- Thomasville, Georgia’s downtown revival can be attributed, at least in part, to the city’s municipal network, MSNBC reports.
- The creation of municipal networks in Chattanooga and Morristown, Tennessee, have led to more competitive markets for Internet service in their regions, lowering prices, increasing speeds, and driving economic development.
"Having the infrastructure in place around technology, as well as the asset of this really historic and charming downtown, is a really interesting intersection and I think a lot of people are drawn to that." - Kimberly Van Dyk, Director of Planning and Community Revitalization of Wilson, North Carolina
- North Carolina Public Radio reports on Wilson, North Carolina’s Greenlight municipal network.
- A Knoxville news station, WBIR, covers Chattanooga's municipal network, focusing on the economic opportunities it has created - opportunities that Knoxville has missed out on because of its lack of high-quality service.
Community Networks Map 2015 Fact Sheet
As of January 2015, more communities than ever before have realized the value of publicly owned broadband infrastructure.
In order to introduce our updated Community Networks Map to advocates of better broadband, policy makers, and community leaders, we created the Community Networks Map fact sheet.
This is a great resource for policy makers, advocates, and community leaders who want a visul tool to share the truth – that a large number of successful community broadband networks are spread across the country, serving constituents, encouraging economic development, and saving public dollars.
Download the PDF to learn more and visit the online interactive map to obtain detailed information and links to specific community stories on the map.
"Getting Started on Broadband" Webinar from Blandin on January 7th
The Blandin Foundation will be holding another informative webinar on Wednesday, January 7th. The event is titled "Getting Started on Community Broadband" and runs from 2 - 3 p.m. CST. You can register online for the free event.
However, we think it might better be called "Broadband in the Community" or something else because the focus is not on "community broadband" as that term is used in the vast majority of situations. This will likely be a good webinar for people new to broadband but will almost certainly not be focused on community networks.
Blandin Foundation consultant Bill Coleman and his guests will touch on comparisons between wired and wireless technologies, provide information on resources and tools for community broadband initiatives, and explore options to improve connectivity in your community.
From the Blandin on Broadband blog webinar announcement:
Two important trends are driving more communities to consider community engagement in broadband availability for the first time. First is the fact that broadband as a necessary element of everyday life is not a theoretical discussion anymore. Almost everyone wants broadband so that they can participate fully in 21st Century life. What might have been hyperbole ten years ago is now undeniably true. Lack of broadband lowers property values and impacts quality of life. No doubt about it. Second, the availability of state and federal fund to address rural broadband issues seems to be growing. Unprepared communities will soon see the funds flowing to their better prepared neighbors, thus motivating communities to get busy and play catch up.
Community Connectivity Toolkit Launched
If your community is hungry for better connectivity, you may be interested in starting a community network initiative. Getting started can be a daunting task so we developed the Community Connectivity Toolkit.
The Toolkit includes broad suggestions for steps you should take as you investigate solutions for your community. We also include resources to help you educate yourself through case studies, fact sheets, and other media. We touch on common stumbling blocks and ways to counter them. The toolkit suggests policies that will prepare your community for better connectivity.
The Community Connectivity Toolkit helps you ask the right questions and gives you a starting point where you can find information to learn, share, and prepare. If you have suggestions for how to improve the toolkit or questions that you want answered that are not in it, please let us know.
Community Connectivity Toolkit
Many people have come to us for advice on how to get started on an effort to improve Internet connectivity. We've created resources to help you and your community and have curated materials from other organizations to help as you seek a path to better Internet access. Please let us know if you have suggestions or additional comments by emailing us - broadband@muninetworks.org.
An increasing number of municipalities and cooperatives are investing in telecommunications infrastructure to serve public facilities, local businesses, and residences (see our map here). They're filling the gaps created by large national cable and telephone companies, which have focused their investments in primarily areas with assured returns. As a result, rural areas and urban regions with higher concentrations of low-income households don't have the Internet access they need. Often the infrastructure just isn't there; sometimes it's unaffordable.
In order to correct these errors and bring fast, affordable, reliable connectivity to all of their citizens, communities are implementing change at the local level. Each municipality, county, and region is unique, and so need to review potential policies to determine which suit their community and vision.
In the summer of 2019, Next Century Cities (NCC) released the Becoming Broadband Ready Toolkit, the most comprehensive resources we've seen to help local communities. This comprehensive resource covers considerations from early in the process to determining success throughout implementation. In addition to offering guidance with examples from across the country, the toolkit offers links to other resources, such as model ordinances, reports, podcasts, and organizations laser-focused on specific and relevant issues.
The toolkit organizes material into overreaching themes, such as building community support, establishing policies to encourage investment, and the pros and cons if publicly owned models, among many other considerations. Within each broad topic, however, NCC has dug deep into specifics, such as addressing simplified permitting practices, creating digital inclusion plans, and ways to work around legislative or regulatory barriers. Throughout the toolkit, NCC turned to the many members of the organization for real-world examples of workable solutions.
Download the toolkit from the NCC website here
Over the years, we've also developed resources that can help educate and spread the word about the benefits of community networks as your project moves forward. Whether your project begins at the grassroots with regular folks in the community or in City Hall, these resources are easily accessible and help explain why community networks are a potential alternative.
Resources
Tools:
- Santa Monica’s City Net: An Incremental Approach to Building a Fiber Optic Network - This community used the pay-as-you-go approach over several years to provide access throughout the city.
- All Hands on Deck: Minnesota Local Government Models for Expanding Fiber Internet Access - Learn how twelve different communities - suburban, exurban, and rural – took unique approaches to improving connectivity in Minnesota. Some chose partners, some deployed on their own. We provide valuable policy suggestions based on our findings.
- Chanute's Gig: Rural Kansas Network Built Without Borrowing - This report outlines the process that the city of Chanute went through in order to build an effective fiber network. Rather than build out the network all at once, Chanute built it incrementally without issuing bonds or borrowing money.
- The Empire Lobbies Back: How National Cable and DSL Companies Banned The Competition in North Carolina - This report reviews the fight and barriers set in place in Wilson, North Carolina. After Wilson, big cable corporations such as AT&T fought hard to get barriers passed into law preventing other communities from building their own fiber networks.
- Broadband At the Speed of Light: How Three Communities Built Next-Generation Networks - This study analyzes three of the most successful locally built networks in the United States: Bristol, VA, Chattanooga, TN, and Lafayette, LA. It gives the history of each network and provides analysis on the benefits they have provided to their communities and states.
- Carolina’s Connected Community: Wilson Gives the Greenlight to Fast Internet - When the incumbents could not justify the investment, Wilson knew it needed to act to ensure economic survival. This case study shares the story of their efforts, their challenges, and their ultimate success.
- The Art of the Possible: An Overview of Public Broadband Options - This paper explores a variety of approaches, assessing different business models and the benefits/risks of each. The report was created by the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation along with CTC Technology and Energy.
- The Empire Lobbies Back: How National Cable and DSL Companies Banned the Competition in North Carolina - North Carolina is one of 19 states that have barriers in place restricting municipal network initiatives. This cast study dissects how the cable and DSL lobbies took control of the telecommunications landscape in North Carolina. This is a must read for any community that needs to know the opposition they may face.
- Correcting Community Fiber Fallacies: The Reality of Lafayette’s Gigabit Network - Be ready to address common misinformation claims from those opposed to local telecommunications authority. This report takes a popular article that incorporates many falsities and addresses them one by one.
- RS Fiber: Fertile Fields for New Internet Cooperative - Farmers and other rural residents in Renville and Sibley Counties in central Minnesota used the cooperative model to create a FTTH and wireless network in a region left behind by big incumbents.
- Successful Strategies for Broadband Public Private Partnerships - An increasing number of communities are exploring the possibilities of working with a private sector partner to deploy, manage, and offer Internet access. This report offers caveats, smart policies, and examples for communities considering such an approach.