After years of advocacy by residents and careful study, a community-owned fiber network in Vinton, Iowa is finally moving forward.

On March 12th, the Vinton Municipal Electric Utility Board of Trustees, which also serves as the governing board for the communications utility authorized by voters in late 2015, voted 5-0 to approve bids totalling approximately $6.5 million for the FTTP project. Overall bids came in just under the original engineer's estimates.

​Nearly 40 Vinton citizens attended the Board meeting, despite a winter storm that raged outside and closed major roads into and out of town. There were lots of smiling faces when the Board's unanimous vote was cast, followed quickly by excited determination to get started on all of the many tasks needed to bring the network online by the end of 2019 or early 2020.

The bids were accepted contingent to final financing details, which are expected to be wrapped up over the next several weeks. Central Cable Contractors will be the lead contractor for the outside plant. Construction is expected to begin in early summer, with the goal to have most of the feeder & distribution network completed by the end of year. 

The 2018 IAMU Fall Broadband Meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at the IAMU Office and Training Complex in Ankeny. This is our traditional mid-year "check up" that provides Iowa municipal broadband providers with an opportunity to network and get caught up on new developments in the industry.  

​Mark your calendars now; registration materials will be coming in late summer.

The 2019 IAMU Broadband Conference dates are set - March 13 & 14, 2019.  The dates are earlier than in past conferences due to a shuffling of other Midwest telecom shows that we don't want to conflict with.  The Minnesota Telecom Alliance moved their conference to the last week in March and the Iowa Communications Alliance moved to the third week, forcing us to move to the second week in March.

The venue is yet to be determined but will likely be in the Des Moines area as usual. For now, put those dates on your calendar and we'll announce details as they become available.

The 8th annual IAMU Broadband Conference is in the books. 
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Over 140 people (attendees and vendor representatives) enjoyed two days of learning and networking at the Holiday Inn and Suites in Urbandale. 

 IAMU honored two individuals and one organization for outstanding support and service to municipal broadband during the inaugural Broadband Vanguard Awards held on Thursday, March 22, 2018. IAMU Executive Director Troy DeJoode presented each of the winners with a certificate during the awards ceremony.

Mark Your Calendar!

Communities in Iowa that are in the planning or exploratory stages of a municipal broadband system are encouraged to attend a half-day workshop on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at the IAMU Office and Training Complex in Ankeny. The workshop takes place the day before the IAMU Fall Broadband Meeting on September 20th.

Whether your community is just beginning to consider a community-owned broadband utility, or you are already well along in the process, this workshop will provide opportunities for networking with other Iowa telecom utilities to compare notes and discuss best practices.

Registration information will be sent later this summer so be watching Broadband Bytes and IAMU's Informer for more information!

The annual Fall Broadband Meeting for IAMU broadband utility representatives will be held on September 20, 2017 at the IAMU Office and Training Complex in Ankeny. This day-long event will include both educational topics and networking time.

If you have an idea for a session topic at the Fall Broadband Meeting, please email curtis@smartsourceconsulting.com. And keep watching for registration information coming this summer.

Power & Tel is bringing it's Tech Summit to two locations in Iowa during the third week of April.

The first session of the summit will be in Cedar Falls on Tuesday, April 18th at the Hilton Garden Inn, 7313 Nordic Drive.  The event begins with breakfast at 7:30am, followed by several presentations throughout the day from ADTRAN, Amino & Innovative Systems, Comtrend, Commscope, Wireless Connections, Legrand, and EXFO. 

The central Iowa version of the Power & Tel Tech Summit will consist of two days of informational sessions and hands-on demonstrations on April 19th and 20th. The event will be at Stoney Creek Inn, 5291 Stoney Creek Ct. in Johnston.  The schedule begins at 7:30am each day with sessions from the same solutions providers as Cedar Falls.

CLICK HERE to download a flyer for the Cedar Falls summit on April 18th
CLICK HERE to download a flyer for the Johnston summit on April 19th & 20th.

To RSVP for either (or both) summits, email Mike Brems, Mike.Brems@ptsupply.com.

If you attended the 2017 IAMU Broadband Conference, we want to hear from you! We've posted a survey on the conference at the following link:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/3451767/2017-IAMU-Broadband-Conference-Attendee-Survey

Let us know what you thought of this year's show, and let us know what you think of the idea of moving the conference to a fall date beginning in 2018.

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2017 IAMU Broadband Conference on April 22nd and 23rd! We had a lot of positive comments from both attendees and vendors and we hope you all found it a valuable use of time.