Community leaders in Grinnell, Iowa are putting out the call: if citizens want access to fiber optic broadband, they need to speak up.
​Mahaska Communications Group (MCG), which has operated a FTTH network in Oskaloosa, Iowa for several years, is currently working with the City of Grinnell and the Chamber of Commerce to measure community interest in a fiber network in the city of just over 9,000. If the market looks attractive, MCG would expand their existing service territory to include Grinnell.

MCG has been on the move of late, having built FTTP in New Sharon, Montezuma, and Lake Ponderosa over the past two years. Until this year, MCG has been partnering with Indianola Municipal Utilities to provide services over Indianola's fiber network. That relationship is ending as IMU completes its network and converts MCG customers over to IMU.

Iowa-based SecurityCoverage, a provider of tech support and help desk services for numerous small broadband providers, has a new owner.

NeoNova, owned by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, is buying its competitor for an undisclosed price. SecurityCoverage will remain its own identity and continue operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa according to information released by the company.

For more information, CLICK HERE to read an article at WRALTechWire

Like many other cities in Colorado, citizens and community leaders in Fort Morgan decided to take their telecommunications infrastructure into their own hands by building a fiber-to-the-home network. That project has now received recognition from NMPP Energy as the Project of the Year for its members in Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota, Wyoming,  Nebraska, and Iowa.  CLICK HERE to read a story about Fort Morgan's award.

The Fort Morgan project is a public-private partnership between the City, which built and owns the network, and ALLO Communications, which leases access to the network to provide services to end users.

ALLO Communications is a Provider Member of CBAN. At the same meeting where Fort Morgan was recognized, CBAN was accepted as an NMPP Champion. Congratulations to Fort Morgan and thank you to NMPP for accepting CBAN in your Champion's program!

If you missed the latest edition of CBAN's Lunch and Learn webinar series, you can take advantage of viewing the recording.  "5G and Small Cell: What Cities Need to Know" took place live on Thursday, March 28th with over 40 people taking part in the session. The webinar was recorded and is now available on the CBAN YouTube page, or by playing in the video window below.

The next edition of CBAN's "Lunch and Learn" webinar series addresses a looming issue for cities across the nation: the FCC's 5G and Small Cell Order.

The webinar is limited to 100 attendees and advance registration is required. To register in advance for this meeting, go to the following link:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/8cf34323bd97d8cd66858a512be5123a 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. You are encouraged to register early to ensure your participation. However, the webinar will be recorded and made available afterwards at www.broadbandaction.com.

For more information on the FCC's order and possible impacts on cities, CLICK HERE for an article at www.broadbandnow.com.

Over 150 people - municipal operators, vendor representatives, and speakers - attended this year's IAMU Broadband Conference on March 13 and 14 in Des Moines.

A new and very well received feature of this year's Broadband Conference was the Customer Service Boot Camp. Led by Jeremy Graves of Pivot Group, attendees of the Boot Camp spent the entire day on March 13th taking a deep dive into the telecommunications customer experience. Attendees said the Boot Camp gave them new perspectives on interacting with customers, selling services, and being effective in their jobs. While overall attendance in the Boot Camp was not what we'd hoped, IAMU will explore doing similar customer service training again in the future.

Outside of the Boot Camp, attendees enjoyed 15 informational sessions on a wide range of topics while also taking advantage of ample networking time. As always, the Vendor Show was a highlight of the event. Over 40 vendors were represented.

The IAMU Broadband Committee has already met to begin planning the 2020 Broadband Conference. If you have any ideas for sessions or ways to make the show better, let us know!

The 2nd Community Broadband Summit, sponsored by the Community Broadband Action Network, is in the books. Approximately 50 people attended the day-long event yesterday in Des Moines for informational sessions and networking. 

CBAN would like to thank the following vendor and provider members who had exhibit tables at the Summit: ImOn Communications, ALLO Communications, Bear Communications, Calix, FARR Technologies, and Power & Tel.

Two events benefiting community-owned broadband networks take place next week in Des Moines. And time is running out to participate!

The 2nd Annual CBAN Community Broadband Summit is March 12th at the Holiday Inn & Suites on Merle Hay Road in Des Moines. It's free to attend for CBAN members, including community leaders looking for ways to improve broadband in their community.

IAMU's annual Broadband Conference is back and better than ever! For the first time we're providing a day-long track designed for customer contact personnel to hone their skills. The Customer Service Boot Camp features instructor Jeremy Graves with Pivot Group, one of the top telecommunications trainers in the nation. There is a fee of $50 in addition to conference registration to attend the Boot Camp (even if the person does not attend the rest of the conference). Space is limited!  Complete conference information and registration is below.

While a few tweaks are expected to be made over the next week or so, the agenda for the 2019 IAMU Municipal Broadband Conference is set.

Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Day 1 of the Conference will feature all concurrent (breakout) sessions. A total of 10 sessions on a variety of topics will be held in the Minnesota and Wisconsin Rooms on the lower level of the Holiday Inn and Suites.  Day 1 also features our annual Vendor Show. As of this writing, 24 vendor tables have been reserved. A special thank you to our Presenting Sponsor, Power & Tel and our Gold Sponsors, Calix, Bear Communications, and ADTRAN.

Wednesday also features our Customer Service Boot Camp, a separate day-long training designed to sharpen the skills of your customer contact personnel. It's a great training at a great price...don't miss out on this opportunity to help your team improve their customer relations' skills!

Thursday, March 14, 2019
Day 2 of the Conference features a mixture of general and concurrent sessions. A highlight is the presentation of the 2nd Annual IAMU Broadband Vanguard Awards, recognizing persons or organizations that have worked to make municipal broadband in Iowa a reality. The Awards will be presented during lunch on March 14th.

Don't Delay...Register Today!
Save us a bit of heartburn and register early for the Conference. It really helps to have firm numbers at least a week ahead of time to make final arrangements with the hotel for food and beverage. Plus, if you wait you might miss out on the amazing $65 per night room rate we have with the IAMU room block at the Holiday Inn & Suites. We had attendees who registered late last year and had to pay the normal rate of over $100, so take advantage of the discounts that we've arranged for.

Registration is available exclusively on the IAMU Events page of the website. 

Arkansas's status as one of the states with tight restrictions on municipal broadband is coming to an end. A bill lifting the a prohibition on municipal networks is headed to Governor Asa Hutchinson's desk after passing the state's House of Representatives and Senate this week. Hutchinson is expected to sign the bill into law.

The move in Arkansas is a refreshing change of pace from efforts over the past several years (supported, of course, by entrenched incumbent providers) to ban or severely restrict municipal networks.