 CBAN is excited to welcome Sinch, formerly Intelliquent, to our growing community! We asked the team at Sinch to share some information about their company as they come on board. Sinch empowers personalized communications at scale - through one communication platform and best-in-industry omnichannel solutions for voice, messaging, video, email and verification. All powered by the best super network in the U.S. Sinch was recently selected by the City of Fort Dodge (a CBAN community member) as the voice service platform on Fort Dodge Fiber, the city's new municipal fiber network being built later this year. Sinch also provides voice services for CBAN member Reinbeck Telecommunications Utility.
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Miles Communications, a CBAN provider member, is teaming up with the City of Clinton, Iowa to bring fiber optic connectivity to city and county facilities. The project received a major boost last week from the Clinton County Development Association, which committed $500,000 toward the project. The fiber rnetwork will connect 16 city-owned facilities, five county facilities, four Clinton elementary schools, the middle school and to the high school. The City of Clinton is also investing $5 million in the fiber network, which Miles Communications will operate on its behalf.
CBAN's Curtis Dean attended Mountain Connect in Colorado last week and filed this report.  I took a little drive (10 hours) early last week to Keystone Conference Center in Colorado for the annual Mountain Connect conference. This was my third Mountain Connect, and it gets a little bigger and better each year. Organizers cram a lot of great content and networking opportunities into the two-day show. Here are some highlights from the perspective of this Iowa flatlander. The MoneyWARNING: Many acronyms ahead! Certainly the hot topic at 2022 Mountain Connect was the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, affectionately known by all as BEAD. BEAD is part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden late in 2021. BEAD provides $42.45 billion to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Just days before Mountain Connect, the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) released its Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to the states and territories outlining the key requirements they will need to follow to administer their share of the funding. Assistant NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson attended Mountain Connect to provide additional perspective on the program to the 600 or so people in attendance, many of whom represented communities and small providers who would love to access BEAD funding to bring broadband to unserved areas. Check out a great article by Sean Gonsolves with the ILSR for a complete summary of Davidson's remarks.  The BEAD timeline. It's going to be awhile before the money hits the street. There have been mixed opinions about the NOFO. For example, the Fiber Broadband Association considers it a big win because the rules prioritize fiber development. Other industry analysts are not as enthusiastic as the NOFO may restrict who applies for funding due to required credit guarantees and reporting requirements. Also, the proposed timeline (above) means that money won't be in the hands of providers to build out fiber for at least two years. BEAD will not be a quick fix for the nation's broadband woes. The SessionsJeff Gavlinksi, founder and organizer of Mountain Connect, really knows how to put on a conference. They information sessions were divided into five tracks, each of which had great topics and presenters/speakers. As someone attending solo, choices had to be made, so there was a lot that I personally missed. I envied the organizations and communities that were able to send multiple representatives to absorb multiple tracks of content. The VendorsOne of the big reasons to attend a show like Mountain Connect is to network with companies that offer the products and services it takes to research, build, and operate a broadband network. There were about 60 or so vendors with displays at Mountain Connect. It was great to see around 8 CBAN Associate Members there and catch up with their latest offerings. The WeatherAh, Colorado in late spring. Just a few days before Mountain Connect began, temperatures in the mountains were summer-like. All that changed a few days before opening day when a major spring snowstorm brought up to 2 feet of snow to the mountains, and around 9-12 inches to the Keystone Resort. The annual golf tournament, scheduled for May 23rd, was a victim of the weather. Mother Nature wasn't done, however, and she graced attendees with another half-foot of snow on the night of Monday, May 23rd. The walk from the lodging area to the conference center was beautiful, but a little sloppy.  Still, this IS Colorado and even though it was snowy it was never very cold or uncomfortable. And the views were majestic! The best part of the trip, however, had to be the drive through Nebraska. If you've done it you know what I mean.
 Here at CBAN we are always looking for new ways to communicate with our members. Since our founding 4 years ago we've provided regular webinars and webcasts, including Lunch and Learn and Member Spotlight series; email newsletters from Broadband Bytes; and one-one-one and group meetings. Now, we are excited to have launched a new form of communication - the Broadband Action podcast! Broadband Action features audio content from our previous video presentations as well as new and original content. So far our library includes a discussion of anti-municipal lobbyists, an exploration of state broadband offices, low-Earth orbit satellite internet, supply chain issues, and the Affordable Connectivity Program. New episodes are made available every couple of weeks. Broadband Action is a great way to get caught up on the go using your favorte podcast platform. Just search "Broadband Action" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazo, and Stitcher. We hope you'll take a listen and spread the word!
 We’d like to welcome Irby as a CBAN Associate Member. You may have had the opportunity to visit with the Irby team at the recent CBAN Reception and IAMU Spring Forum. Irby is a value-added distributor for a variety of products in the broadband space. Their product lines include 3M, AFL, Cisco, Commscope, Exfo, Fluke, OFS, and many more. Irby has secured a large order of loose tube fiber that will be available for ordering early this summer. Our Outside Account Manager’s can be reached at Cory Scheibly scheibly@irby.com and John Felton jfelton@irby.com
Thank you to Irby for supporting CBAN and welcome to the community!  With a mission of providing the best broadband internet experience to Fort Dodge residents, the City of Fort Dodge on Monday hired a local expert in Jeremy Pearson to lead Fort Dodge Fiber, the city’s new municipal broadband utility.
Pearson comes to the City from the Fort Dodge Community School District where he served as the Supervisor of Information Technology. He oversaw all IT operations for the district of 3,600 students and 700 staff, coordinated construction projects throughout the district, and maintenance of the servers, fiber, and wireless networks throughout the district. “This project and the opportunities it will bring to the City of Fort Dodge will last long into the future,” said Pearson. “With this investment in our community, everyone will benefit. We’ve heard loud and clear from the community that our residents and local businesses want a better option to provide broadband services. In my over 25 years in the technology field, I’ve always tried to provide the best quality customer service, and tried to make the end users feel valued and respected. I will bring that experience to Fort Dodge Fiber to make this experience the best it can be.” Pearson’s appointment as Fiber Director is effective on May 2nd. “Being able to onboard this early in a massive project such as this is so beneficial,” said Pearson. “I’ll get to understand the engineering and thought process as the different phases are planned and eventually installed. I’ll be able to work alongside the engineers and consultants to ask questions and gain insight as to how to make this project the best it can be. And, knowing the citizens of Fort Dodge want more than what is available to them today, getting to be a part of the team to help deliver that made this a very exciting opportunity.” Pearson has been part of the Fort Dodge Community since he was a freshman at Iowa Central Community College in 1994. He lives in Fort Dodge with his wife Mary, who is an elementary music teacher at Duncombe Elementary School. He has four children, Cole, Adam, and Kira. We were excited by the great turnout at the 2022 CBAN Reception on April 6th. The event was held the evening before the IAMU Spring Broadband Forum on April 7th. It was also the first event since pre-COVID that the entire CBAN team were together in the same place at the same time! Below (left-right) are CBAN co-founders Todd Kielkopf, Jon Anne Willow, and Curtis Dean; and CBAN Community Manager Kate Kielkopf  Thank you to everyone for attending!
For the past two years or so, there's been a gold...I mean...fiber rush in the suburbs of Iowa's capital city. First, Mi-Fiber build fiber to the community of Waukee. Later, Metronet moved in and started building fiber in several other suburbs including Johnston and Urbandale. The City of West Des Moines launched a conduit construction project and announced that Google Fiber would be their anchor tenant. Now, Google says it will tackle Des Moines itself. Google announced its plans recently, saying it was beginning to work with the City of Des Moines on the permitting process. Meanwhile, the company says it has begun to hook up customers in West Des Moines using the city-owned conduit there.
 March 2022 Lunch and Learn Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at noon CDT Premieres live on YouTube and LinkedIn In this edition of Lunch and Learn, CBAN co-founders Curtis Dean, Todd Kielkopf, and Jon Anne Willow will be discussing the practice of digital redlining and how the Federal Communications Commission is seeking public comments on the practice. We will also take a look at how the federal infrastructure funding for broadband deployment is expected to flow from the federal level, to states, and finally to broadband providers. During our interview segment, Jon Anne discussed the status of state broadband offices across the nation. Those offices will be in charge of distributing those federal infrastructure dollars within their boundaries, and some states are much better prepared than others. Jon Anne’s conversation focuses on the state of Michigan, which trails many other states in readiness to act on federal broadband dollars.
 One of the biggest criticisms of Starlink, the low-earth orbit satellite internet service has been its prices. Prepare for more grumbling now as Elon Musk's company says its increasing both the montly cost and the equipment fees for its standard product. Initially, getting Starlink (which is only available in some areas) would set you back $500 upfront for the equipment and $99 a monthf or the service. Now, those prices are going to $599 and $110 a month respectively. While the performance of Starlink has been solid, bringing 100+ Mbps download speeds to areas that had few choices before, the monthly cost was already a big lift for many rural residents. Raising the price another 10% could put it further out of reach for many homes and businesses in its target market. It appears that prices for Starlink's recently-announced premium service will go unchanged - $2500 upfront and $500 for improved performance.
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