On October 8th, Chris visited the Emerald City to present his thoughts on a municipal network in Seattle. He was a guest of the Seattle Citizens' Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board at their Broadband Education Public Forum, cosponsored by Brown Paper Tickets.

Seattle has sought better connectivity for some time and has tossed around the idea of a municipal network. Residents and businesses have expressed their concern and Seattlites are mobilizing. The Seattle Citizens' Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board is in place to collect input from the community, research, and make recommendations to community leaders. They regularly host experts like Chris to educate the Seattle community as they look for ways to improve affordable access for residents and businesses.

Chris was there for a lunch time event and an evening session. The evening session, titled Exploring Municipal Broadband In Seattle with Chris Mitchell, is now archived and available to view on the Seattle Channel.

We want to thank both Brown Paper Tickets and CTTAB for the opportunity. In particular, Brown Paper Tickets deserves recognition for being a private company taking a leading roll in organizing for better Internet for everyone.

People searching for better local connectivity contact us regularly, asking for information on how they can get the process started in their community. On Wednesday, November 5th from 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. CST, Chris Mitchell and Lisa Gonzalez will host an online unwebinar. "Ask Us Anything - An Open Talk About Muni Networks" will be an opportunity for anyone to join and ask questions or join the discussion.

Are you interested in starting a local initiative to improve connectivity? Are you looking for resources on where to begin? Are you interested in learning about other communities with similar concerns? 

This event depends on audience participation, so come with your questions ready! We are counting on you to drive the conversation. Participation is free and you can register online.

We have no set agenda and this is our first attempt at this format - but our intention is to have a moderated discussion based on what people want to discuss. Based on the volume of interest in how to start a community owned network, we expect that to be a focus.

The Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) has announced that Christopher Libertelli of Netflix has joined the Board of Advisors. Libertelli joins a group of policy leaders, including ILSR's Chris Mitchell, to advance the rights of local communities to have authority over their own broadband decisions.

From the CLIC announcement:

Mr. Libertelli has been Vice President of Global Public Policy at Netflix since December 2011. During his time at Netflix, he has been a champion for a variety of internet policy issues including efforts to increase competition among internet providers. Prior to joining Netflix, Mr. Libertelli managed Skype’s government relations programs in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.

Netflix has been a strong and consistent supporter of local internet choice. 

Netflix has been very helpful in advocating for the right of communities to build their own networks if they so choose. They filed comments [pdf] in the Wilson and Chattanooga petitions and have been listing some of the larger municipal networks in their monthly speed rankings. We are very grateful for their assistance in these important matters.

Two events in October will bring Chris and other telecommunications policy leaders to the State of Washington. 

On October 8th, the Seattle Citizens' Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board is hosting Lunch & Learn: Chris Mitchell on community-owned networks and municipal broadband in Seattle. The free event will be held in Seattle City Hall at noon; you can register online at the website.

There will also be an evening forum, also located in City Hall, that runs from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. You can still register online for the free evening session, titled Exploring Municipal Broadband in Seattle with Chris Mitchell.

As our readers know, Seattle has pursued better connectivity for some time and the idea of publicly owned infrastructure is not a new idea in the Emerald City. Chris will be presenting his thoughts on the possibility of a municipal network.

The next day, Chris visits Mount Vernon for the Connect with the World event. The October 9th conference focuses on creating a tech friendly environment for economic development, better educational opportunities, and improved healthcare. The full agenda [PDF] is available online and registration is still open. The program runs from 10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at Skagit Valley College.

Mount Vernon's open access network provides an infrastructure for several ISPs. The network slashes the community's telecommunications costs and attracts employers in fields such as healthcare, aerospace, and engineering. The network also serves the communities of Burlington and the Port of Skagit.

Burlington Telecom customers love their local muni. Throughout the community's political, legal, and financial challenges, residents and businesses have rallied behind the ability to control their access locally. As part of their efforts to educate the community, Code for BTV and Keep BT Local brought Chris to town to discuss community ownership. The video of his presentation is now available online at Burlington's Town Meeting Television.

Chris discussed a variety of community ownership and said of Burlington:

"When it comes down to getting community support to raising capital and understanding the value of a cooperative, Burlington's about the best place in the country to be trying to do that."

Keep BT Local began officially organizing in late 2012. Their goal is to transform the municipal network into a cooperative structure on order to protect local interest in the service. The gigabit network has won awards, partnered with local nonprofits to improve digital inclusion, and offered local services such as computer repair, setting it apart from the distant corporate providers with no interest in local communities.

No wonder Burlingtonians want to keep their network! This is an informative conversation that touches on a variety of topics including how to fire up potential cooperative members, strategies to entice community anchors, and promoting the unique characteristics of a local network.

The video runs about one hour and twenty minutes.

The Guardian recently ran an article covering Chattanooga EPB's fiber network. The article tells the story of the birth of the network, the challenges the community faced to get its gigabit service, and how the network has sculpted the community.

Reporter Dominic Rushe, mentioned how the city has faced legal opposition from incumbents that sued to stop the network. They continue to hound the EPB today, most recently by trying to stop the city's FCC petition to expand its services. But even in a fiercely competitive environment, EPB has succeeded. From the article:

The competitive disadvantage they face is clear. EPB now has about 60,000 residential and 4,500 business customers out of a potential 160,000 homes and businesses. Comcast hasn’t upgraded its network but it has gone on the offensive, offering cutthroat introductory offers and gift cards for people who switch back. “They have been worthy competitors,” said [Danna] Bailey,[vice president of EPB]. “They’ve been very aggressive.”

Rushe spoke with Chris:

"In DC there is often an attitude that the only way to solve our problems is to hand them over to big business. Chattanooga is a reminder that the best solutions are often local and work out better than handing over control to Comcast or AT&T to do whatever they want with us,” said Chris Mitchell, director of community broadband networks at advocacy group the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

A key difference between a Comcast or an AT&T and EPB goes beyond the numbers. Rushe described the artistic renaissance happening in Chattanooga with the help of top notch service from EPB:

The city is making sure schools have access to devices for its children to get online. Fancy Rhino, a marketing and film production firm backed by Lamp Post, has been working with The Howard School, an inner-city school, to include them in the city’s renaissance.

...

There is little doubt that our readers are aware of Chairman Wheeler's remarks on September 4th at 1776, a start-up incubator in D.C. His message echoed what policy leaders have repeated countless times - competition is lacking in the world of broadband.

Telecommunications has become a popular topic in the past few months as decision makers are discovering that constituents DO care about online access, economic development, and exessive consolidation. ILSR was pleased to see the Chairman address the issue of lack of competition and released the following statement:

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance applauds FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s Agenda for Broadband Competition. We feel it is a positive step coming from the nation’s top communications official.  

“These gigabit developments are positive, but they are not yet pervasive,” Wheeler said. “Looking across the broadband landscape, we can only conclude that, while competition has driven broadband deployment, it has not yet done so a way that necessarily provides competitive choices for most Americans.”

Wheeler's recognition that Americans lack a true choice in fast, affordable, and reliable Internet access is an important development. If we want real options for next-generation connectivity, local governments must be free to build then own networks. 

If there is one thing we have learned from the history of essential infrastructure, it is that local governments must have the option of building and owning it themselves. 

“Hundreds of communities have already invested in their own fiber networks, keeping money in the local economy and spurring job growth.” says Community Broadband Networks director Chris Mitchell.

Members of the Burlington community are hosting a luncheon on Friday, September 19th, to discuss ways to help keep BT local. Chris, as one of the leading experts on municipal broadband, will be leading the discussion. We have followed BurlingtonTelecom's challenges and victories since 2008.

The event is titled "How Do We Keep Burlington Telecom Local?" and will be at the CCTV Center for Media & Democracy in Burlington. From the announcement:

Many Burlington residents and activists are concerned about the City of Burlington’s plans to sell Burlington Telecom to a private entity by 2017. While the City is committed to BT as a driver for economic and community development, it currently has no specific plans to retain a meaningful ownership stake in the new entity. 

The event is part of a series of community talks aimed at maintaining public input as the City prepares to move forward. 

A free discussion will begin at 11 a.m.; it will be followed by lunch for $15. You can now register online. For those who want to learn more about the network and keep up on the latest developments, CCTV of Vermont has put together a resource page detailing upcoming steps with news coverage, video, and court documents. 

Join Chris in Springfield, Massachusetts for the Community Fiber Networks conference in September. The meet-up is part of Broadband Communities Magazine's  Economic Development series; Chris will present at the event. The conference will run September 16 - 18 at the Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel.

Jim Baller, Conference Chairman and Principal at the Baller Herbst Law Group notes:

During the last fifteen years, thousands of communities across the United States have sought to attract or develop advanced communications networks, recognizing that such networks can provide them and the nation multiple strategic advantages in the increasingly competitive global economy. In virtually every case, fostering robust economic development has ranked at or near the top of the list of considerations motivating these communities.

Broadband Communities chose Springfield because there are multiple projects in the region, including MassBroadband123, Leverettnet, and Holyoke.

You can register online for the event and check out the agenda to plan your weekend.