Community Broadband Bits

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 ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Benoit Felton (Independent Consultant, Diffraction Analysis).  During the conversation, the two discuss the transformational potential of broadband,  international developments in fiber deployment and lessons on wholesale broadband networks.  They talk about the state of European broadband service, what keeps customers from changing providers within open access … Continue reading "Lessons on Retail and Wholesale Broadband Models from Europe, Asia, and the U.S. – Episode 505 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined live from Broadband Communities by Bob Knight (CEO, Harrison Edwards) and Kim McKinley (Chief Marketing Officer, UTOPIA Fiber).  During the conversation, the three discuss the newly announced American Association of Public Broadband (AAPB). They talk answer what the group is, why it’s needed and how people can … Continue reading "Introducing the American Association of Public Broadband – Episode 504 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Jeff Gavlinski, CEO of Mountain Connect to preview this year’s event. During the conversation, the two talk about what makes Mountain Connect different from other broadband conferences, what’s on deck for this year, and Jeff’s perspective on larger trends in the broadband industry. They also discuss … Continue reading "Previewing Mountain Connect 2022 – Episode 503 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. During the conversation, the two talk about Shayna’s work with the Digital Equity Initiative, how their coalition brought about recent wins for community broadband in LA County, and what’s next in the fight … Continue reading "Los Angeles County and California Are Building A Broadband Future – Episode 502 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by three colleagues from the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at ILSR including Sean Gonsalves (Communications Team Lead), Ry Marcattilio-McCracken (Research Team Lead) and DeAnne Cuellar (Outreach Team Lead). During the conversation, the four talk about Sean’s writing that highlights improvements to New York’s new budget bill, and … Continue reading "What New York State Got Right and No Answers on States Rights Question – Episode 501 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Margaret Kaufer, President of the New York-based STEM Alliance, and Bob Cacase, Commissioner of Information Technology for the City of Yonkers. During the conversation, the three talk about Y-ZONE, a partnership between several community groups working to connect households in Yonkers. They discuss origins of the … Continue reading "Y-ZONE is Connecting Families with CBRS – Episode 500 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the show, Christopher is joined by Angela Thi Bennett, Director of Advocacy & Impact at DigitalC, a community-based Cleveland nonprofit which operates a fixed wireless network in the city’s unserved and underserved neighborhoods. Before she leaves to become the first Digital Equity Director for National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Angela sits down with … Continue reading "Empowering Community in Cleveland, with Digital C – Episode 499 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Nancy Werner, General Counsel of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA).  During the conversation, the two talk about NATOA and it’s role in supporting community broadband projects, how the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Act is structured, and how exactly BEAD grant … Continue reading "Breaking Down BEAD Funding Requirements with Nancy Werner – Episode 498 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by ILSR Community Broadband Networks Research Team Lead Ry Marcattilio-McCracken and Communications Team Lead Sean Gonsalves. During the conversation, the three discuss stories from the big list of American Rescue Plan Community Broadband Projects, Sean’s Broadband Breakfast Telehealth Op-Ed with Craig Settles, and why healthcare providers aren’t … Continue reading "ARPA Funding, Telehealth and a Good Rant – Episode 497 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast" ★ Support this podcast ★