Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced plans "for a pilot program to bring broadband internet to all of rural America." The plan "will provide $600 million in grants and loans to internet service providers to bring connection to parts of the country that are too remote, underpopulated or expensive to service." While most of the projects will bring internet connection to paying customers at homes or businesses, "19 proposals have laid out plans to build community centers where residents could access the internet free of charge," which Secretary Perdue acknowledged was necessary when he announced the pilot program.
Charlemont residents vote in favor of building town-owned broadband network
Charlemont, MA, residents "are supporting a town-owned fiber broadband network proposal, instead of a cheaper offer from Comcast." 56 percent of residents voted in favor of the town building its own municipal broadband network, despite it being about $1 million more expensive than...
Centennial's fiber backbone construction complete
The City of Centennial, CO’s vision to provide dark fiber "with simple terms of access and usage has come to fruition with the completion of FiberWorks, a 432-fiber-strand backbone connecting key city sites and community anchor institutions." More than 50 miles of fiber back...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...