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Three additional communities in Colorado will seek to opt-out of a state anti-municipal broadband statute during the general election on November 8th. In 2005, the Colorado General Assembly passed Senate Bill 05-152 that prohibits most uses of municipal funding for infrastructure to improve localbroadband or telecommunications services. However, communities can nullify those provisions by passing a local referendum, and to date 119 communities have done so. This year, three towns - Castle Pines, Lone Tree, and Pueblo - are seeking exemptions to allow them to explore municipal broadband projects.  This map shows cities in Colorado that have passed referendums to be exempt from anti-municipal broadband laws. Map from Colorado Municipal League, https://www.cml.org/home/topics-key-issues/broadband-in-colorado
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Digital equity, broadband grant funding, Smart Grid, and next-generation fiber networks were all topics of discussions held at the IAMU Fall Broadband Forum held October 25th in Waverly, Iowa.  Waverly Utilities served as the host for the Forum, a return to having IAMU broadband meetings in member communities. Waverly Utilities hosted tours of their facilities on the afternoon of October 24th and 25th. Waverly's Telecom Director, Jeff Magsamen, kicked off the Tuesday discusison with an overview of the history of the fiber utility, which has rapidly grown during its six years of operations. Waverly's story was of special interest to representatives of two Iowa communities that are building or planning to build municipal fiber networks.  CBAN was also a presenter at the Fall Forum. CBAN's Todd Kielkopf and Jon Willow discussed Digital Equity programs, including CBAN's own participation in the NDIA's Digital Navigator pilot program funded by Google.org. CBAN is in the process of hiring and onboarding its Digital Navigator that will delivery digital equity services in southern Iowa beginning in January 2023. IAMU wants to extend a big THANK YOU to the Fall Forum sponsors!
Lunch Sponsors: Calix, FARR Technology, ImOn Communications, Power & Tel, and Professional Computher Solutions (PCS) Break Sponsors: Oak Hill Consulting and Ribbon Public ownership of broadband networks is prohibited in Nebraska. But more and more communities in the Cornhusker State are getting fiber networks through private and public-private investments ALLO Communications (a CBAN provider member) has been a real leader in bringing better broadband to Nebraskans. Since their founding in Nebraska in 2003, the company has brought fiber networks to 25 towns and cities in the state. Several of their projects in Nebraska (Lincoln) and Colorado (Fort Morgan) have been a result of public-private projects between ALLO and communities. Recently, Pinpoint Communications has entered into a public-private partnership agreement with the City of Beatrice to construct a network in the southeast Nebraska city of 12,000. Pinpoint is also based in Nebraska, founded originally as Cambridge Telephone Company in the early 20th century.
The Community Broadband Action Network (CBAN) is seeking a full-time Digital Navigator to provide individualized and small group assistance to rural Iowans in identified communities who need affordable home internet service, affordable internet-capable devices, and/or coaching in introductory digital skills in order to become effective home internet users. This assistance is provided in person and by telephone, but may also include email, text, video chat, and other communication methods that work for the learner. The Digital Navigator is an office-from-home, full-time position. The service area is southern central Iowa, including communities in Ringgold, Decatur, and Wayne counties. CBAN is using Indeed.com to process applications. CLICK HERE for the complete job description and to apply.
The towns of Gouldsboro and Winter Harbor, Maine are banding together to study the concept of a municipal fiber project. A broadband committee consisting of residents of both communities has begun preliminary planning for a possible project utilizing grant funds.
CLICK HERE for more details on the efforts these Maine communities are undertaking!  Representatives of Iowa's growing municipal broadband community will gather in Waverly, Iowa for the 2022 IAMU Fall Broadband Forum on October 24-25, 2022. The Fall Forum is resurrecting an old IAMU tradition of holding meetings in the communities where members have built networks, and we're excited to have Waverly Utilities as our host this year! Oct. 24 - Waverly Utilities Tours and Member Meet-UpThe Fall Forum will include two opportunities for attendees to tour the Waverly Utilities operations center at 1002 Adams Parkway in Waverly. The first tour on the afternoon of Monday, October 24th begins at 3:30pm. The other tour opportunity will be the following afternoon. After the tour, attendees are invited to gather at Joe’s Knight Hawk, 1002 W Bremer in Waverly for dinner and beverages (on your own). Oct. 25 - Sessions and Waverly Utilities TourThe official kickoff of the Fall Forum will be Tuesday, October 25th at 8:00am. Workshop sessions and lunch will be held in the Waverly Room at Waverly City Hall, 200 1st St NE. Sessions are scheduled until 1:45pm and will be followed by a second tour opportunity at Waverly Utilities beginning at 2pm. Session schedule on October 25th 8:30am - The Waverly Utilities Story 9:30am - Digital Inclusion 10:30am - 10G PON and Beyond - Preparing for the Future 11:30am - Smart Cities: Grids, Transportation, and Big Data 12:20pm - Lunch with new ACA Connects CEO Grant Spellmeyer 1:00pm - Broadband Funding in Iowa CLICK HERE for a complete schedule of activities and session descriptions (PDF) Register Now!Registration information is on the Events page at www.iamu.org. If you are an IAMU member, please log in to your account before registering to get the member price. Registration is $50 for IAMU members and $75 for non-members. Associate Members can also sponsor lunch or breaks at the Fall Forum by visiting the event page and clicking the "Sponsorship Registration" link. LodgingThere is not a room block for this event. However, there are several hotels in Waverly to choose from.
Residents of West Springfield, Massachusetts will be voting on a plan to build a municipal fiber utility in their town, operated in partnership with another public provider. If authorized by voters on November 8th, the town would build a "municipal light plant" to bring fiber optics to every home and business. Under Massachusetts law, a "light plant" is considered to be either a municipal electric or telecommunications utility. The town would be partnering with Whip City Fiber for operations of the network. Whip City is part of fellow municipal Westfield Gas and Electric. Several other Massachusetts communities have built fiber over the years, including CBAN provider member Shrewsbury Electric and Cable Operations (SELCO). CLICK HERE for more details on the West Springfield, MA project.
 The Community Broadband Action Network (CBAN) has been awarded a grant in the amount of $380,591 through the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) to provide digital equity education and resources to communities in rural Iowa.
The grant is part of a $10 million investment from Google.org to establish a national Digital Navigator Corps. It supports the hiring and establishment of 18 community-based digital navigators across the country for three years, through August 2025. CBAN was chosen from dozens of applicants nationwide. “The NDIA and Google understand that areas with lower population density are the most vulnerable to being left on the wrong side of the digital divide,” said Jon Anne Willow, CBAN co-founder and President. “This program is a great start in terms of closing that gap.” NDIA sub-grantees, including CBAN, will receive programmatic and technical support to further develop NDIA’s digital navigator model for rural and Tribal communities. The program will help thousands of Iowa residents to gain much-needed access to the internet, devices, and digital skills training. “The grantors have been very helpful,” said Todd Kielkopf, CBAN co-founder and Treasurer. “The NDIA is providing great programmatic support while still allowing us to work the way that’s best for our local communities.” Kielkopf will serve as Program Manager for Iowa’s Digital Navigator program. Digital navigators are trusted guides who assist community members in internet adoption and the use of computing devices. Iowa’s digital navigator will provide one-on-one assistance with affordable internet access, device acquisition, technical skills, and application support, including for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) broadband service subsidy. “There are so many ways we’ll be able to help people, and having the program funded for three years shows Google and NDIA’s commitment to its success,” said Curtis Dean, CBAN co-founder and Vice President. “We are equally committed as CBAN expands its ability to educate, support, and serve communities across our nationwide member base." CBAN is working to finalize the communities where the program will be enacted and hire a Digital Navigator. It is expected that Digital Navigator services will begin being offered in the target communities in January 2023.  The voters of Waterloo, Iowa have spoken, and by an overwhelming margin they have given the green light to a key financial component for their planned municipal fiber utility. At issue in yesterday's referendum was whether or not the City of Waterloo should issue $20 million in general obligation bonds to help finance the planned $110 million fiber-to-the-home network. The City had already committed $9 million in funds from their American Recover Plan Act (ARPA) allocation toward the project. 84% of the voters in Tuesday's referendum said YES to the bond issue, which required 60% to pass. As a result, the network will lower overall interest costs by using some GO bonds, although city leaders say taxes will not need to be used to make those bond payments as revenues from the sale of services will be sufficient. City leaders say the project would still have proceeded even with the bond issue passage, but would have raised interest costs over the term of the financing. The remainder of the funding for the project - approximately $80 million - will come from the sale of revenue bonds backed by the Waterloo Communications Utility. Waterloo, Iowa will be the 29th city in Iowa to build a municipal communications utility. It will also become the largest city in Iowa served by municipal communications. Iowa communities with municipal telecom (in alphabetical order)
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Broadband Bytes NewsPresented by the Community Broadband Action Network and curated by Curtis Dean. Archives
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