In a new report, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance showcases the diverse range of approaches communities and local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have taken to expand affordable, high-quality Internet access in Minnesota. It includes a series of case studies that detail how communities are meeting the connectivity challenges of a broken marketplace shaped by large monopoly service providers. 

Download Minnesota Broadband: Land of 10,000 Connectivity Solutions [pdf] here.

The profiled projects include municipal networks, public-private partnerships, cooperatives, and private investment. They run from the most rural areas of the state to Minneapolis. Some examples include:

• RS Fiber Cooperative, in south central Minnesota, which has brought fiber to local businesses and town residents. Rural residents benefit from RS Air, a fast wireless service available at affordable prices.
• Arrowhead Electric Cooperative’s fiber network in Cook County, which succeeded beyond original projections. It provides fast and affordable Internet access to one of the most far-flung parts of the state.
• St. Louis Park’s partnerships with both ISPs and the builders of large condominium complexes. One of the providers working with St. Louis Park is better known as the fastest ISP in Minneapolis, USI Fiber.
• Christensen Communications, a 100+ year-old telephone company in south central Minnesota. The company demonstrated a strong commitment to its communities when the pandemic hit, and is now going above and beyond to build fiber with federal subsidies.
• The Fond du Lac Band, in northern Minnesota, which built a fiber-to-the-home network that is rare in Indian Country.

Ry Marcattilio-McCracken, co-author of the report and Senior Researcher with ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks initiative, said of the report’s findings: 

Minnesota communities and local ISPs have found creative and sustainable ways to build future-proof networks across the state, despite a broken marketplace and state barriers that favor slow-moving, out-of-state monopoly providers clinging to outdated technology. Lawmakers must stand up for the cities and towns that sent them to the legislature, and remove the obstacles that prevent a more competitive market and local broadband solutions.

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In a video published by Corning Optical Communications in June, ILSR Community Broadband Networks Director, Christopher Mitchell explains why municipal networks are so important to consider when communities are trying to connect more of their residents to reliable, affordable service. 

Mitchell explores the history around electrification in the U.S., and how electric cooperatives were formed in many communities to light up rural parts of the country when larger companies wouldn’t. He points out the parallels between electrification and connectivity in these more remote locations. 

Mitchell also talks about how municipal networks are uniquely positioned to serve their residents, with priorities based at the heart of community needs and development. 

Coring Optical Communications releases new videos on their Youtube channel on a monthly basis. They have experts from throughout the telecommunications world talking about solutions and innovations in areas such as fiber-to-the-home deployments, wireless technology, and hyper-scale data centers. Watch more content here.

With the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the state’s Comptroller’s office recent approval of the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) business plan, the city-owned utility proposal to build a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network in the Volunteer State’s third-largest city is set to take the next step.

Tonight, KUB will hold a hearing to get public input on KUB’s plan to bring high-speed Internet service to its 210,000 customers spread out across Knoxville, Knox County, and small parts of seven neighboring counties.

If the KUB Board of Commissioners approves the final plan, along with a needed two-thirds majority support from the Knoxville City Council, network construction could start sometime next year and would take about seven years to build out.

But it won’t come cheap. “We project that the cost to build out the network and ultimately staff and operate that network, estimated cost is about $500 million over the first ten years of operation of the business line,” KUB Vice President Jamie Davis told WATE 6 News. 

Funds to construct the network would come in part from a 3 percent annual rate increase on KUB electric customers from 2022-2025. After 2025, KUB electric customers would see an estimated increase of $10.50 in their monthly electric bill, according to Knox News.

And the Survey Says…

It remains to be seen whether KUB customers will balk at the cost. Currently, as reported by...

Although Tennessee is one of 19 states in the nation with laws that limit municipal broadband networks, it is also home to several of the nation’s premier municipal Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks, including EPB Fiber, a division of Chattanooga’s city-owned electric and telecommunications utility.

In the Volunteer State, municipal electric providers are restricted from offering Internet service on fiber networks beyond their service areas. But now, Knoxville, a city of approximately 187,000 residents and the home of the University of Tennessee, is aiming to get on the community fiber track and become the state’s next gig city.

Earlier this month, the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) Board of Commissioners approved a business plan that, if approved, will set the utility on a path to bring high-speed Internet connectivity to its more than 468,000 customers spread out across Knoxville, Knox County, and small parts of seven neighboring counties.

The plan has been sent off to the Tennessee State Comptroller office for review, one of the initial steps in the process to bring triple-play services (Internet, phone and TV) to its broadband-hungry customers.

A Need for Speed

As reported by WBIR 10News, a KUB survey found that about 60% of their users have only one option for Internet service, while 50% said they would switch from their current Internet Service Provider (ISP) to KUB’s fiber network when, and if, it is built and lit up for service.

KUB is in the process of deploying 300 miles of fiber to connect the utility’s electric substations, part of...