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ILSR Launches New Digital Opportunity Lab
ILSR Community Broadband Networks (CBN) team has kicked off a new initiative deep in the heart of Texas we are calling the Digital Opportunity Lab. the Digital Opportunity Lab is a customizable hands-on program designed to support digital equity coalitions and community leaders amid a national effort to unlock the social and economic benefits of broadband for all.
Indio, California Gets $9 Million Grant For Fiber Network
Indio, California has been awarded a $9 million state grant the city will use to expand affordable broadband access. An incorporated city located in Riverside County and home to 92,000 residents, the city will use the grant to deliver gigabit-capable fiber to 479 unserved locations and an estimated 3,632 unserved local residents.
Plumas-Sierra Telecom Nabs $67 Million In FFA Grants Across Four California Counties
A California telecom and electrical cooperative says the state’s ongoing last-mile broadband grant program will help deploy affordable fiber to multiple communities across four heavily unserved and underserved California counties. The cooperative says it’s poised to receive roughly $67 million in FFA grants to expand affordable broadband to roughly 6,600 unserved and underserved locations across Sierra, Plumas, Lassen, and Nevada Counties.
Blueprints for BEAD: What We Can Learn From the Low-Cost Option That Was, Then Wasn’t, Then Was Again
BEAD will help build the physical networks necessary to connect the millions of households that still lack access to high-speed Internet service, but will it make a difference if if financially-strapped subscribers still can’t afford a plan? BEAD's low-cost plan requirement sought to ease concerns about affordability, triggering debates between industry leaders and federal and state officials over how BEAD addresses, or not, the affordability crisis.
East Central Oklahoma Electric Cooperative Launches $4.8 Million Broadband Expansion Project
The Oklahoma Broadband Office (OBO) and ecoLINK Fiber Services recently announced the commencement of two different broadband expansion efforts that aim to bring affordable fiber to unserved homes and businesses in the rural northeastern corner of the Sooner State. A commencement celebration of the project launch was held in the town of Slick in Creek County.
North Carolina Telephone Co-op FOCUS Broadband Secures $5.4 Million For Fiber Expansion
The North Carolina nonprofit telephone cooperative FOCUS Broadband nabbed $5.4 million in grant funding to extend its fiber network to unserved portions of Chowan and Perquimans counties. Of the total $5.4 million in total state funding, FOCUS says that $1.9 million will be used to expand high-speed Internet service to over 300 addresses in Chowan County, with $3.4 million of the funds being utilized to bring high-speed Internet service to an additional 588 addresses in Perquimans County.
New Resource: Our New Community Network Map Shows the Explosion of Publicly Owned Networks
Today we release a complete redesign of our longstanding Community Networks Map. It shows where municipal networks are located across the United States and how they are bringing new, more affordable service and competition to communities around the country, including networks operated by over 400 municipally owned Internet service providers covering more than 700 communities. A third of those networks provide high-speed Internet access to nearly every address in the communities where they are located.
Vermont Establishes ‘Long Drop’ Program to Help Connect Low-Income Households To Fiber Internet
The Vermont Community Broadband Board this week unanimously approved the creation of a new “long drop program” to bring fiber service to low income households. The new program will use $2.5 million in leftover federal Rescue Plan funds to subsidize the cost of connecting low-income households in high-cost locations.
Washington DC Earmarks $61.3 Million In Rescue Plan Funds For Broadband, Community Improvements
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has announced that the District is poised to use $61.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to “support the construction of community facilities” and expand affordable broadband to underserved communities.
Save The Date: Coalition Building Will Take Center Stage at Next #B4DE Event
With Digital Inclusion Week 2024 only a month away, registration is open for the next Building for Digital Equity livestream event on October 7. The theme will be “Coalition Building for Success” and will bring together hundreds of frontline digital inclusion practitioners from across the nation to delve into how coalitions are finding success in pushing the digital equity movement forward
Harrison County, Texas Strikes Partnership With Etex Telephone Cooperative
Harrison County, Texas officials say they’re poised to use the county’s remaining Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds to strike a fiber expansion partnership with Etex Communications, a subsidiary of the locally-owned Etex Telephone Cooperative. The Harrison County Commissioners Court says it’s putting the finishing touches on a $4.5 million public-public partnership with Etex that will help deliver fiber access to the Western end of the heavily underserved Texas county with the help of $1.5 million in federal ARPA funds.
NDIA’s Angela Siefer Among IP3 Awards Winners
Public Knowledge announces 21st Annual IP3 Award Winners. Among the four recipients is Angela Siefer, Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), recognizing her as a national leader of the digital equity movement.