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ILSR Community-Based Broadband Map Shows 750 Networks, Electric Cooperatives on the Rise
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The U.S. now has 750 communities where broadband services are offered by a local municipality or electric cooperative, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The latest ILSR community broadband map plots the locations of these networks. This is the first time that the group has added services by electric cooperatives. Previously, only municipal networks...Learn More
Cooperatives Embrace Fiber Broadband: ILSR Finds 87 Cooperative Gigabit Deployments Nationwide
Telecom and electric cooperatives are playing an important role in bringing high-speed broadband to rural America, according to a new report from the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). Using FCC data, researchers identified 87 cooperative gigabit deployments as of December 2016. The majority of the nation’s 260 telecom cooperatives...Learn More
ILSR Creates Useful Map and List of Municipal Broadband Networks
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has issued a useful interactive map and list of municipal broadband networks in the U.S. Interactive icons on the map indicate where municipal broadband networks have been built. Interested parties can click on any icon to get details about each network or can scroll through an alphabetical list by state....Learn More
ILSR Researchers Find 63 Gigabit Deployments by Cooperatives
The Institute for Local Self Reliance estimates that there were 63 gigabit deployments by cooperatives in the U.S. as of December 31, 2015. ILSR based its research on Form 477 data that broadband providers submit to the FCC. Using that data, researchers identified about 200 companies advertising gigabit downstream speeds, then narrowed the field down...Learn More
Report: ‘Clear and Unchanging’ Community Broadband Prices Beat Commercial ISP Networks
Community-owned broadband networks generally offer lower pricing in comparison with commercial networks, according to a new report. Researchers for Responsive Communities at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Research at Harvard University compared community broadband prices in 27 markets and found that the community broadband prices were lower than for their least expensive...Learn More
Anti-Municipal Broadband Legislation Progresses at State Level
Anti-municipal broadband bills are currently making their way through legislatures in at least two states, while efforts in a third state to reverse anti-municipal broadband legislation have stalled. In Virginia, the House of Delegates February 7 voted to pass HB 2108. And although the bill has gone through several iterations that have softened it somewhat,...Learn More
Report: The Cooperative is a Good Model for Publicly Owned Broadband Networks
The cooperative ownership model could be a good one for publicly owned broadband networks according to a new report published by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Next Century Cities. The 30-page report focuses on the experiences of RS Fiber, a Minnesota network that was built when 27 rural towns and townships created a cooperative...Learn More
Municipal Broadband Opposition Laws: Pros and Cons – and Legality
With FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler vowing to take action against state-level laws that block municipal broadband networks, we are seeing considerable debate about the pros and cons of those networks. Nineteen states currently have laws limiting and in some cases effectively prohibiting municipalities from offering commercial services on broadband networks constructed by the municipality, according...Learn More
Interactive Map Plots 35 Community Networks Offering 1 Gigabit Service
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has put together a useful interactive map plotting the locations of community broadband networks, primarily in the U.S., but also highlighting several in other countries. The map contains flag markers for each project, indicating whether the project involves citywide cable, citywide fiber or fiber in a portion of a city....Learn More
Fact Sheet Documents Community Broadband Job Creation
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has created a fact sheet that could help organizers of community broadband networks garner support for their projects. The two-page document includes examples of how community broadband networks in eight states have helped attract business to or retain businesses in their communities. “Community-owned networks often deliver the highest capacity connections...Learn More
Are Community Broadband Networks the Answer for the Underserved?
More than 54 U.S. cities own citywide fiber networks and another 79 own citywide cable networks, according to a new report from the New Rules Project, a program of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The ILSR also has made an interactive map available on-line that shows the location of each of these community owned broadband...Learn More
