Community Broadband Bits

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Ben Matranga, co-founder and managing partner of Connectivity Capital, and Jane Coffin, chief community officer at Connect Humanity. The conversation this week takes on a bit of international flavor as the three of them discuss a recent report “Financing Mechanisms for Locally Owned Internet Infrastructure,” authored collaboratively by … Continue reading "Financing Mechanisms and Governance Models – Episode 524 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Shayna Englin, Director of the Digital Equity Initiative at the California Community Foundation (CCF) to talk about a new report by CCF and its partners that reveals the systematic broadband cost inequities perpetuated in LA County by Charter Spectrum, the region’s monopoly provider. “Sounding the Alarm,” a pricing and policy impact study, shows not only that … Continue reading "Monopoly Pricing Disparities in LA County – Episode 523 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Jessica Engle, Director of Community Outreach at Althea to talk about the Affordable Connectivity Program, the $14-billion fund that provides a $30 monthly service benefit ($75 on Tribal lands) to help defray the cost of Internet access to qualifying families around the country. It’s a large and complicated program, and Jessica … Continue reading "Bottlenecks in the Affordable Connectivity Program – Episode 522 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Matthew Douglas, Broadband Manager at the Hoopa Valley Public Utility District. At the start of the pandemic, HVPUD launched a wireless network initiative using $2 million in CARES Act funds to benefit Tribal members who had poor or no connectivity options. Matthew shared the lessons they learned during the … Continue reading "A Tribal Wireless Network in Northern California – Episode 521 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Pamela Rosales (Training and Community Engagement Manager, National Digital Inclusion Alliance) and Davida Delmar (Digital Inclusion Manager, Amerind). Pamela and Davida talk about their digital inclusion work and how it differs across Tribal communities as compared to rural and urban areas. They also catch Christopher up on what’s … Continue reading "A Foundation for the Future of Digital Equity Work – Episode 520 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by ILSR colleagues Sean Gonsalves (Senior Editor and Communications Team Lead) and DeAnne Cuellar (Outreach Team Lead) for a roundup of recent news. They talk about the release of our new tracking and advocacy tool, the Affordable Connectivity Program dashboard, the pace and speed of the municipal broadband … Continue reading "Cities Doing Work – Episode 519 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by two people from Pharr, Texas (pop. 80,000), which has embarked on a citywide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network build that is seeing strong local support and fast progress in recent months. Jose Pena is the IT Director for the city, and and Guillermo Aguilar works as a Partner at … Continue reading "Building at the Speed of Light in Pharr, Texas – Episode 518 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Joseph Franell, President of Blue Mountain Networks (which serves more than 30 rural communities west of Portland) in Oregon. Joe joined the team at Ashland Fiber Network (AFN) before moving on to do work in rural parts of the state. During the conversation, Christopher and Joe talk about … Continue reading "The Straight Talk About Rural Fiber Deployments – Episode 517 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

A quick update from Christopher on upcoming episodes of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Transcript coming soon. We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below. Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index. Subscribe to the Building Local Power podcast, also from the … Continue reading "Short Update – Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Jon Chambers, industry veteran and partner at Conexon. The two begin by talking about the work electric cooperatives are doing in rural areas to convert subscribers from DSL connections reluctantly maintained by monopoly providers to member-owned fiber connections. Then, they address what Jon calls the next … Continue reading "Mapping, BEAD, and the Future of Broadband – Episode 516 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Greg Conte, Director of the Texas Broadband Development Office, and ILSR Outreach Team Lead DeAnne Cuellar. The state of Texas finds itself in a common position these days: last year it created a small office that, today, is suddenly faced with dispersing more than a billion dollars … Continue reading "The Birth of the Texas State Broadband Development Office – Episode 515 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Sean Gonsalves, Senior Reporter and Editor at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. During the converstion, they talk about the value and concrete results of going small and stacking up targeted wins as a path for cities facing less of an appetite for big, bold projects, before digging … Continue reading "Campaigns to Keep Monopolies We Don’t Love – Episode 514 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Mike Conlow, Director of Network Strategy at Cloudflare, a network security and Internet performance company. Christopher and Mike dive into the upcoming Broadband Serviceable Locations Fabric which will serve as the basis for the new nationwide maps from the Federal Communications Commission. They talk about what’s going to be better as compared … Continue reading "The New FCC Broadband Fabric – Episode 513 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week’s podcast comes from the Fiber Connect 2022 conference held in Nashville, Tennessee last month where Christopher caught up with Heather Mills, Vice President for Grants and Funding Strategies at CTC Technology & Energy. During the conversation, Heather challenges Christopher’s assessment of the BEAD program in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and what he … Continue reading "Should the BEAD Program Be As Onerous As It Seems? – Episode 512 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Seth Wainer, the former CIO of the city of Newark, New Jersey. During the conversation, Seth shares his time with the city from 2013-2018. He talks about the progress the city made in improving local connectivity across different arenas, from cataloging existing assets, to pursuing both … Continue reading "Frameworks for the Future in Newark – Episode 511 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast Christopher is joined by Scott Rasmussen, Acting Director of the New York State ConnectALL Office. During the show, the two dive into how New York will spend its broadband funds to support municipal networks and partnerships, the challenges of public-public partnerships between local governments working together on deployments, and what we … Continue reading "Empowering Municipalities in New York – Episode 510 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by senior staff on the broadband initiative to dig into recent topics, including Senior Reporter, Editor and Communications Team Lead Sean Gonsalves, Community Broadband Outreach Team Lead DeAnne Cuellar, and Senior Researcher and Research Team Lead Ry Marcattilio-McCracken. The group talks about the value of overlapping networks and … Continue reading "Underbuilding, States BEAD Posturing, and Hot Topics in Community Networks – Episode 509 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast Christopher is joined by Ken Demlow, Planning Services Group Manager with HR Green, a leading employee-owned civil engineering and technical management firm with offices in nine states. The pair dive into the world of consulting firms and how they help cities and towns across the United States figure out how … Continue reading "How Consulting Firms Can Help Communities Plan, Build, and Finance Local Broadband Networks – Episode 508 Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, while attending the 2022 Broadband Communities Summit in Houston earlier this month, Christopher was joined by Angie Kronenberg, Chief Advocate and General Counsel for INCOMPAS, a leading trade association advocating on behalf of telecommunication policies that encourage competition. The pair kick-off the podcast with a fun nod to Angie’s involvement … Continue reading "How INCOMPAS Advocates for Broadband Policy That Promotes Competition – Episode 507 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by John Lester, General Manager of Clarksville Connected. The two discuss how Clarksville, a small rural community of about 10,000 in northwest Arkansas at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, became the Natural State’s first 2 gig city. Chris and John cover how Clarksville became the first city … Continue reading "How Clarksville became Arkansas’ First Two-Gigabit City – Episode 506 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★