Just like cities around the county, rural communities are all unique. Nevertheless, there are some common steps they can take to improve the likelihood of achieving better local connectivity. The Arizona Rural Development Council and the Local First Arizona Foundation are hosting a free webinar series and on July 26th, the topic will be “Can You Hear Me Now? Strategies for Rural Broadband Access.”

The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, July 26th, at 10:00 AM Pacific.

The webinar description:

As we progress into a world driven by technology the need for broadband access is hardly an option, it is a necessity. During this month's webinar, we will hear from four highly experienced professionals advocating for broadband access in rural communities around the state and the nation. 

Attendees of this webinar will learn:

• Steps communities can make to ensure they are fiber ready
• Alternative solutions to broadband access
• How to work regionally or within a county
• How to leverage any and all existing resources
• Unique factors of costs to broadband deployment on tribal lands

On July 26th, presenters will include:

Deb Socia, Executive Director of Next Century Cities

Blake Mobley, Rio Blanco County, Colorado’s IT Director

Belinda Nelson, Gila River Telecommunications and member of the Gila River Pima tribe

Bruce Holdridge, Gila River Telecommunications

You can register for the free event online.

Hey, Minnesota communities, are you looking for funding sources for your broadband project? If yes, and you plan on applying for a Minnesota Border-to-Border Development Grant Program, you should be getting your ducks in a row. The application period is fast approaching - July 3 through September 11.

For the 2017 grant period, the state legislature allocated $20 million to the program to expand broadband service in unserved or underserved areas of Minnesota. As a way to help you sort through the application process, the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development will be hosting several webinars early in the application period.

Dates and times for the webinars are:

Monday, June 26, 
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Central Time)

Friday, July 7, 
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Monday, July 10, 
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Wednesday, July 12, 
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Sign up for the webinars and get the details on eligibility, the process, and resources at the Office of Broadband Development website.

Next Century Cities and Google Fiber are taking applications for the 2017 Digital Inclusion Leadership Awards. The deadline is Friday, February 10, 2017.

From the award announcement:

Next Century Cities and Google Fiber have announced the judges for the 2017 Digital Inclusion Leadership Awards, which will celebrate cities and counties tackling barriers to internet adoption. 

There are two categories:

• Leader in Digital Inclusion Best Practices: for existing programs with over a year of work in addressing the digital divide.
• Most Promising New Plan: for particularly promising new programs for ensuring digital inclusion in a community.

At the award website you can review the list of expert judges, submit your questions, and review FAQs about the awards and the process. You can also watch the recorded webinar from December. Don’t forget to apply by next Friday, February 10, 2017

For the next month, everyone can access the most recent webinar from the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB). The topic is "Partnerships and Rural Broadband Needs" and the webinar is the second in SHLB’s Grow2Gig+ webinar series. After February 10, 2017, the webinar will only be available to SHLB members.

SHLB Executive Director John Windhausen headed up the discussion which included information from Joanne Hovis, President of CTC Technology & Energy, ILSR’s Christopher Mitchell, and Mark O’Connor, Senior Vice President from Carlson Wireless.

The group discussed challenges in rural communities, the role of Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs), the potential of TV White Space technology for wireless connectivity in rural areas, and potential partnership models. John Windhausen also presented SHLB's recent American Broadband Connectivity (ABC) Proposal for the Trump Administration. 

You can access the archived video on the SHLB website or watch it here.

The next webinar in SHLB’s Grow2Gig+ series will be "Subsidies for Community Anchor Institutions," to be scheduled in mid-February.

Tune in to the Grow2Gig+ webinar from the Schools, Health, & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) on Tuesday, January 10, 2017. The topic will be "Partnerships and Rural Broadband Needs" and our Christopher Mitchell will moderate the discussion. The hour-long event starts at 11 a.m. EST.

Christopher will offer information on steps local communities can take to bridge the digital divide. Joanne Hovis, President of CTC Technology & Energy, will address some of the challenges found in rural areas. SHLB Executive Director John Windhausen will spend some time on the potential role of public-private partnerships. John will discuss partnerships as envisioned by SHLB in its American Broadband Connectivity (ABC) Proposal for the Trump Administration. You can follow the discussion with #Grow2Gig and #RuralBB.

The webinar and is free and open to the public. It’s the second in the Grow2Gig+ webinar series. You can register online for the webinar and check out the other events on deck at the SHLB website.

Internet access for low-income households is becoming more affordable, thanks to an FCC modernization order that brings the Lifeline program into the 21st Century. 

Next Century Cities recently offered a webinar for people who want to learn more about changes to the Lifeline program; our own Christopher Mitchell moderated the event. Jaymie Gustafson, Director of Stakeholder Engagement for the Lifeline, and attorney Olivia Wein from the National Consumer Law Center shared their knowledge about the order, discussed how local governments can utilize the program in public housing, and suggested ways local governments can help make the program a success.

The program, which initially provided a $9.25 subsidy to eliminate or lower the cost of telephone services to low-income households, now allows recipients to use the funds to purchase broadband services. Gustafson noted one of the driving factors behind the modernization order:

“We know it’s so important in terms of helping children do their homework, in terms of people being able to search for and keep their jobs, in terms of accessing services, just in terms of interacting with society around you. Right now, broadband is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.”

About The Program

The Universal Services Administrative Company (USAC) governs the Lifeline program, which originated in 1985 and receives funding from the Universal Services Fund. The fund, established in 1935, supports other programs that invest in telecommunications infrastructure in addition to low-income access. Instead of receiving a voucher to purchase services from a carrier or an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the provider receives the subsidy directly from USAC; after the discount is applied to Lifeline participants' bill, the participant pays the remainder to the provider.

A diverse panel of telecom industry experts will gather on April 21st for a webinar to discuss the emerging partnership role of private Internet Service Providers (ISPs) within the growing municipal broadband movement.

Featured speakers at the webinar, hosted by the leading telecom industry blog Telecompetitor, will include:

• Doug Dawson, President - CCG Consultants: Doug Dawson has nearly 40 years of experience providing support for the planning, fund-raising, technical and operational aspects of creating broadband networks. Dawson is also the author of POTs and PANs, a daily blog covering current issues in the telecom industry.

• Mark Mrla, Business Unit Manager -  Finley Engineering: Mark Mrla is involved in the design, budgeting, scheduling, and implementation processes for power, telecommunications and technology projects for clients of Finley Engineering. 

• Dan Olsen, Project Manager - Finley Engineering: Former General Manager for Minnesota's WindomNet, Dan has firsthand experience making a fiber network a reality. When the webinar is over, check out Episode #64 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast and listen to Chris interview him about WindomNet.

The hour-long webinar, sponsored by Finley Engineering, will air live on Thursday, April 21st from 2:00 - 3:00 pm Central Standard Time (CST). You can register to participate in the webinar on the Telecompetitor Website. Even if you cannot attend the webinar live, the organizers encourage you to register for the webinar because your registration instructions will include information about accessing Telecompetitor’s on-demand archives.

Once you register, you will receive instructions via email on how to join the discussion. The live discussion begins here on April 21st.

Knowledge Is Power

In addition to economic development, public savings, and a higher quality of life, better connectivity can promote more participation in the democratic process.

Next Century Cities, The Democracy Fund, and the Benton Foundation want to promote innovation surrounding ways high-speed Internet fosters participatory democracy and civic engagement. These groups invite communities to apply for a Next Generation Engagement Award.

Winning communities will receive:

• Up to $30,000 for new or existing projects that help citizens become more engaged in the democratic process
• Technical assistance to implement their plans
• Connections with other like-minded municipalities
• At least three communities will be selected for special inaugural Awards

Some examples of eligible projects suggested by Next Century Cities include: participatory budgeting; public transportation and urban planning; involvement in local government deliberations; or community concern reporting and response.

Instructional Webinar on April 20th, Learn More

For communities seeking guidance in applying or just looking for more information, Next Century Cities will host a webinar on April 20th at 3 p.m. ET. The webinar will be available here.

To learn more about the Awards, contact Todd O'Boyle, Deputy Director of Next Century Cities, at Todd(at)NextCentiryCities.org. You can also download a fact sheet on the Awards for more information, along with the online Application, and the Budget, both of which must be submitted by June 15, 2016.

Deb and Todd Talk With Craig About The Awards

Next Century Cities and WifiFoward will present the results of new research on wireless technologies. The report (to be released on February 29, 2016) provides a detailed analysis of LTE-U and Wi-Fi in the context of local governments.

Major topics covered in the new report include the importance of Wi-Fi for local government operations, the potential effects of LTE-U interference, and the possibility of LTE-U and Wi-Fi coexistence. Next Century Cities, WifiForward, and CTC Technology & Energy will present the results of the research in an upcoming webinar.

The presentation is this coming Monday, February 29th at 1PM ET over Google Hangout and features:

• CTC Technology & Energy’s Joanne Hovis and Andrew Afflerbach
• Next Century Cities’ Todd O’Boyle 
• WifiForward’s Bill Maguire 

The report will be released on February 29, 2016.

Register for the webinar here.

As communities across the country realize the big corporate providers may never bring the kind of connectivity they need, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are sprouting up everywhere. A new report by Joanne Hovis, Marc Schulhof, Jim Baller, and Ashley Stelfox, takes a look at the issues facing local governments and their private sector partners.

Interjection from Christopher Mitchell: Partnerships are emphatically not sprouting up everywhere. To be more correct, enthusiasm around the idea of partnerships is sprouting up in many places. But compared to the hundreds of municipal networks currently in operation, we could maybe name ten partnerhips in existence today.

The Emerging World of Broadband Public-Private Partnerships: A Business Strategy and Legal Guide examines the practical considerations when investigating PPPs for better connectivity. The report was published by the Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) and the Benton Foundation. 

The Benton Foundation sums up the three models explored in the report:

Private investment, public facilitation – The model focuses not on a public sector investment, but on modest measures the public sector can take to enable or encourage greater private sector investment. Google Fiber is the most prominent example, but there is significant interest among smaller companies

Private execution, public funding – This model, which involves a substantial amount of public investment, is a variation on the traditional municipal ownership model for broadband infrastructure—but with private rather than public sector execution.

Shared investment and risk – In this model, localities and private partners find creative ways to share the capital, operating, and maintenance costs of a broadband network.

The authors also share expertise on a range of legal topics that often arise when working with a private sector partner. They share their years of experience with matters such as confirmation of authority at state and local levels, project planning, and common issues related to negotiating the agreement.