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Check out our new addition of the Broadband Action podcast on your favorite platform! In this episode of Broadband Action, CBAN's Jon Willow and Curtis Dean talk with Karl Bode, a journalist who's been covering broadband for 25 years. Karl shares his perspective on the big issues facing the broadband industry and some insight on what further changes may be coming. 
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Still time to register and join the conversation! Remember - if you can't join us in person, join us online! We will be livestreaming the entire afternoon to persons who register. Or register and watch the recording at your leisure!
We're polling our members and subscribers - where are you with your digital equity planning? Options include "None" and "I don't know," so don't be afraid if you're still at the trail head. We're just working to understand where everyone is! Responses will first be revealed at next week's Spring Summit!
https://bit.ly/cban-survey24  ALLO Communications, a CBAN provider member, will build fiber-to-the-home in Joplin, Missouri under a development agreement approved by the Joplin City Council this week. Under the agreemeent, ALLO pledges to build fiber throughout the community of 52,000 over the next two years. The City is contributing $5 million of its ARPA allocation toward the project in exchange for "the construction of an additional and redundant CO, a fiber drop to the CIty's anchor institutions, and a buried mainline fiber backbone." Redundancy and resiliency are obvious priorities for Joplin leaders. A tornado in 2011 killed 158 people and caused massive destruction, including big impacts on emergency communications. The City Council approved the ordinance to adopt the agreement on a vote of 8-1.
The clock is ticking rapidly toward the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP. A bipartisan bill to restore $7 billion for the program is langushing in the halls of Congress, and the recent federal budget doesn't even mention it. Is there still hope? This feature in Tuesday's Fierce Telecom newsletter lays out the likelihood of the return of the ACP, and what will need to happen to make that possible.
American states, territories, and indigeous organizations are on the clock to apply for funding to implement their digital equity plans. On March 28th, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released its Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Altogether, $811 million is available for state digital equity programs under this round of funding. Each entity has an allocation based on their size and need. The largest allocation is for the largest state by population - California - at over $70 million. A list of all allocations is available at StateScoop. This is the first wave of digital equity funding. Later, a nationwide competitive grant program will be announced for other entities to seek support for their efforts.
 As we make the push toward the 2024 CBAN Spring Summit, the online publication Innovation Iowa put together a great article about CBAN's efforts on digital equity work and our involvement with the National Digital Inclusion Alliance's Digital Navigator program. The article also discusses the 2023 CBAN Impact Report which was released early this year. If you haven't taken a look, CLICK HERE to check it out!
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Broadband Bytes NewsPresented by the Community Broadband Action Network and curated by Curtis Dean. Archives
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