In 2016, the California Public Utilities Commission recommended Inyo Networks, a telecomunications company based in California, to help initiate a project to build Nicasio’s broadband service. The commission also granted to city $1.5 million, 60 percent of the total cost for the project, stating that Nicasio landowners had to raise the other 40 percent. Since then, over 50 percent of landowners contributed to the project, which has a scope of 220 customers. As the project has taken off, there are now 80 customers in Nicasio that have broadband service, and that number is expected to double by early spring. The Nicasio project is the first collaborative broadband project in the county, where nearly 4,000 locations had inadequate broadband connections in 2014.
Charlemont rejects Comcast broadband offer; opts to build $1.4M fiber optic network
Comcast’s $462,123 proposal, which would have connected 96 percent of households in Charlemont, Massachusetts with high-speed internet was rejected by town meeting voters. Instead, Charlemont has decided to build its own fiber optic broadband network. The project funding wou...
County, town finalize broadband agreement
An agreement between the town and county of Orange allowing the school system’s broadband project to continue through the town’s right-of-way has been finalized. The agreement allows the project’s contractors to work within the town’s right-of-way laying fi...
Nicasio's fiber optic network goes live
In 2016, the California Public Utilities Commission recommended Inyo Networks, a telecomunications company based in California, to help initiate a project to build Nicasio’s broadband service. The commission also granted to city $1.5 million, 60 percent of the total cost for...
Government-owned broadband is costly — try these alternatives
According to a 2017 report from the University of Pennsylvania that studied 20 municipal broadband projects in the United States, "only two ‘earned enough to expect to cover their project costs during the useful life of the networks.’" Instead of having the government ...
Towns begin talks with firm to bring high-speed internet to area
The town the Fletcher, North Carolina hosted the first of three public input meetings scheduled this week in the county to receive feedback on residents’ current broadband service. Audience members wanted to see more competition in the area to lower cost, increased reliabili...
Communications infrastructure and what it enables
Crown Castle government affairs manager Jonathan Hart published a blog for 1871, Chicago's Technology & Entrepreneurship Center, noting some "combination of cell towers, small cells and fiber that comprise our wireless networks and deliver the connectivity necessary in today&rsquo...