California

SF receives ‘several’ proposals to build a fast citywide Internet service for all by Joshua Sabatini, San Francisco Examiner

San Francisco received “several” proposals by Monday’s deadline to build a citywide Internet broadband network connecting all homes and businesses.

Mayor Mark Farrell is working to lead The City toward creating a citywide fiber-to-the-premises Internet service at one gigabit speeds. The project would be developed as a private-public partnership with an initial 15-year agreement.

Broadband, bike share on City Council agenda by Anne Ternus-Bellamy, Davis Enterprise

Los Angeles Considers Building Broadband Network For All by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

California’s Legislature Seeks to Protect Network Neutrality and Promote ISP Competition by Ernesto Falcon, Electronic Frontier Foundation

San Francisco Is Quietly Building an Open Access Fiber Network by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Colorado

6 Colorado communities vote to establish municipal broadband, joining dozens of others across the state by John Aguilar, Denver Post

California

LA Councilmember Proposes Municipal Broadband Feasibility Study by Zack Quaintance, GovTech

San Francisco Taps Citywide Internet in Bid to Close the Digital Divide by Mickey McCarter, StateTech Magazine

Only government intervention can truly close the digital divide, San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell declared in a keynote address at Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo in Kansas City, Mo., this week.

Over the past four years, San Francisco has been planning a fiber project to do just that, Farrell said.

“We fancy ourselves as the innovation capital of the world, yet we have communities in our city that are getting left further and further behind,” he said.

Roughly 100,000 San Francisco residents have no internet access, and 15 percent of public school students lack internet access. African American and Latino students face even greater disparity as 30 percent of them lack internet access.

Colorado

Improving the next National Broadband Map by Rep. Jared Polis and Jessica Rosenworcel, Sky Hi News

Every map tells a story. In the 1860s, maps were key to establishing Colorado Territory's place in the gold rush. In the 1970s the state's residents decided to map a course from Durango to Denver, which was eventually christened The Colorado Trail. It's justifiably known as mile-for-mile one of the most beautiful pathways in the country.

Alaska

Alaska lawmakers, following other states, consider bills to keep net neutrality by Annie Zak, Anchorage Daily News

Colorado

Cortez announces new broadband pilot program by Stephanie Alderton, The Cortez Journal

Broadband deployment in rural Colorado by Rep. Barbara McLachlan, Durango Herald

Cortez council candidates talk business, broadband in forum by Stephanie Alderton, The Cortez Journal

Fiber service for faster internet on horizon in Centennial by Ellis Arnold, Centennial Citizen

Ting signed a lease March 1 to use the City of Centennial's fiber-optic cable system, an underground infrastructure that's currently built in the middle of the city — roughly from Interstate 25 to South Jordan Road — that the city is expanding to its east and west parts. Ting will be able to provide service by building its own local fiber network in certain neighborhoods by connecting to the city's fiber system.

Whether Ting can expand across the city depends on demand, but that is the goal, according to Mark Gotto, Ting's city manager for Centennial.

Fort Collins council tweaks election code, approves city broadband bonds by Nick Coltrain, The Coloradoan

Georgia

Commissioners Consider Starting City-Run Broadband Service by Blake Aued, Flagpole

California

Mendocino County Broadband Alliance seeks input on community programs by Ariel Carmona Jr., Willits News

Los Angeles Eyes Greater Role for Community Broadband by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Colorado

Boulder launches new online platform for citizen engagement by Alex Burness, Boulder Daily Camera

Improving rural internet about more than watching Netflix by Andrew Eversden, Durango Herald

Legislature moving at the speed of fiber to get internet service to rural Colorado by Marianne Goodland, Durango Herald

That’s what happened last year in Ridgway, in Ouray County. Elevate, a new telecom provider operated by the local nonprofit Delta-Montrose Electric Association co-op, won a grant to provide high-speed fiber optic service to about 2,000-area residents and businesses. The service would have reached speeds at 1 gigabyte, among the fastest currently available.

But CenturyLink has been operating in the area for years, so the company exercised its right of first refusal and took the broadband grant. And they elected to provide internet service through copper lines. That’s about 10 times slower than fiber optic and can be more expensive to customers.

Missouri

California

Bill to expand broadband access in tribal communities passes house by Jesus Reyes, KESQ - California News Service

The Tribal Broadband Deployment Act would direct the Federal Communications Commission to improve broadband access in tribal lands within 30 months, according to the office of Ruiz, who authored the bill.

The legislation also seeks an evaluation of broadband coverage in Indian country and solutions to address the "digital divide'' that Ruiz said exists in those communities.

L.A. councilman proposes new department to improve broadband internet access by LA Times City News Service

Colorado

The community discusses broadband at forum by Zach Clemens, Estes Park Trail Gazette

Boulder looks to Fort Collins in starting its own broadband network by Nick Coltrain, The Coloradoan

Fort Collins' broadband effort is earning attention in Buffs country.

Representatives from the city of Boulder are planning to visit with Fort Collins officials Tuesday to discuss the city's efforts to make municipal broadband a reality in the Choice City.

Georgia

Is Bad FCC Data Holding Back Georgia’s Rural Internet Push? by Tyler Jett, Chattanooga Times Free Press (Government Technology)

Kentucky

Rural Communities Take Broadband Into Their Own Hands by Benny Becker, National Public Radio

California

San Francisco: Building Community Broadband to Protect Net Neutrality and Online Privacy by Katharine Trendacosta, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Mayor Farrell Advances Plan for Municipal Fiber Internet by Ellen McGrody, Bay City Beacon

This week, the San Francisco Municipal Fiber Blue Ribbon Board released a report recommending a set of provisions that ISPs using the city’s infrastructure will have to follow, the latest in a set of recent moves towards to the rollout of municipal fiber in San Francisco. Since taking office last month, Mayor Mark Farrell has overseen significant commitments toward the rollout of the proposed fiber optic network.

San Francisco Internet Challenges Feds, Major ISPs by Garrett Bergthold, San Francisco Weekly

Colorado

Longmont officials, low-income housing residents grappling with property manager to get NextLight by Sam Lounsberry, Longmont Times-Call

Stalled negotiations between the property manager of Longmont affordable housing complexes and officials with the NextLight municipal high-speed internet service have confused residents about their potential access to the broadband network.

Mission Rock Residential manages both Quail Village and Cloverbasin Village low-income apartments, and has left residents to choose between private-sector internet providers such as Comcast — which has an exclusive marketing agreement with Mission Rock — by shunning proposals from the city to install NextLight.

Alabama

City looking at broadband access models by Michele Gerlach, Andalusia Star News

The mayor made his comments before having council members review a 19-minute video chronicling the efforts of Ammon, Idaho, to do just that.

The city of more than 15,000 people “is taking its destiny in its own hands,” the mayor said. The city installed broadband infrastructure, and sold its excess capacity. It has built its network slowly, and has no debt associated with the infrastructure.

Ammon is using a Local Improvement District (LID) approach to connect premises to the infrastructure. The city determines the boundaries of where the project will occur and property owners have the opportunity at the beginning of the process to pay for connecting to the network by attaching the cost over 20 years to their property.

Colorado

Firestone ballot to include municipal broadband measure by Sam Lounsberry, Longmont Times-Call

Municipal broadband: Loveland council faces next step by Julia Rentsch, Loveland Reporter-Herald

Members of the Loveland City Council might decide Tuesday to finalize several measures that will allow city staff to move forward with developing a municipal broadband utility.

If adopted, the three ordinances scheduled for a second reading would allow city staff to direct time and resources toward fulfilling seven recommendations by the Loveland Broadband Task Force. Following the recommendations would result in the city having a build-ready network design, a detailed business implementation plan and the structures in place for governance of an enterprise utility, as well as a more accurate cost-to-build estimate, in the next four to six months.

Alabama

This is how politicians should deal with bad cable companies by Charles Mills, BGR

Mediacom has a franchise agreement to offer cable and Internet service within the city, thanks to its 2016 takeover of the local cable company, Andalusia TV Cable. But Johnson says that since Mediacom took over, service has been tanking.

“For the entire time that I have been mayor, I have not received as many complaints about anything as I have received about the cable and broadband service from Mediacom,” Johnson told the city council last week, according to the local paper. “Whatever it is that they’re doing here, they need to make some changes…they operate here because we let them. As a city government we can’t tell them or make them do anything. But we can locate someone who is an expert on broadband and Internet who can tell us what we can do.”

One small Alabama town is tired of MediaCom's crap by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Mayor puts Mediacom on notice: Get better, or we'll compete with you by Lacy Stinson, Andalusia Star News

Colorado

Editorial: Broadband study was good decision by Loveland Reporter-Herald Editorial Board

Iowa

Council authorizes $15K in attorney fees for work on possible municipal utilities by Sarah Strandberg, Decorah Newspapers

Kentucky

Alabama

Mediacom takes shot from Alabama mayor by Daniel Frankel, FierceCable

California

San Francisco seeks universal fiber broadband with net neutrality and privacy by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

Colorado

Loveland City Council: Decisions ahead on broadband recommendations by Julia Rentsch, Loveland Reporter-Herald

Boulder broadband: Imperative for prosperous future by John Tayer, BizWest

Loveland City Council votes to move ahead on development of municipal broadband network by Julia Rentsch, Loveland Reporter-Herald

Massachusetts

A clarion call by Lynn Item News team

Minnesota

Dig Once policy would encourage affordable broadband by Mike Schlasner, Rochester Post Bulletin

Missouri

Of course a mystery website attacking city-run broadband was run by an ISP. Of course by Kieren McCarthy, The Register

California

Wave sticks it to Comcast in Santa Maria, California, with muni broadband network by Dave Frankel, FierceCable

California’s net neutrality bill is vulnerable to legal attack, EFF says by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

Colorado

Fort Collins starts hiring process for broadband leadership by Nick Coltrain, The Coloradoan

Internet providers pitch municipal broadband partnerships to Loveland City Council by Julia Rentsch, Loveland Reporter-Herald

The Loveland City Council heard presentations from representatives of six internet providers during a study session Tuesday. The presentations were requested by a council rule of four Dec. 12 due to concerns about a pro-municipal broadband slant to the information they have received to date.

Members of the council and city staff said repeatedly that they want a deal that will tend to the needs of Loveland internet customers who say they are being underserved by incumbent companies. Some councilors have also cited concerns about the city entering the business and competing with those same providers.

In 2015, over 82 percent of Loveland voters approved a ballot measure that allowed the city to provide a retail fiber-to-the-premise broadband utility. The ballot question stipulated that the city cannot raise taxes to fund it.