Community Broadband Media Roundup - September 18

Georgia

City to study building broadband service by Ben Nelms, The Citizen

Peachtree City is the latest city in Georgia to consider a city-owned fiber network. If approved, it could result in more than 20 miles of underground fiber cable.

With municipal-owned broadband, the city would own the right-of-way for fiber installation and would call the shots on infrastructure rather than relying on a for-profit vendor.

“This is a big decision,” said interim City Manager Jon Rorie. “So is the juice worth the squeeze going forward?”

Illinois

Alderman: City should use existing fiber-optic network for Internet service by Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times

A Chicago Alderman says the city should switch from private ISP's to the city’s own higher-capacity fiber-optic network.

What better time, he says, for the city to use its vast fiber-optic network to create what Hopkins called a “self-sufficient, publicly-owned system” capable of saving money and generating revenue.

“We already have a robust infrastructure in place to build from. Fiber optic resources currently controlled and managed by [the Office of Emergency Management and Communications] for traffic, first-responder, and emergency services is an example,” Hopkins was quoted as saying in a press release.

Kentucky

Bracing For Bumps On Kentucky's Broadband Highway by Josh James, WUKY

And, [Christopher Mitchell] predicts, just as other utilities have gone from luxury to necessity, so to will broadband internet. The challenge, as Mitchell sees it, is what comes next – after the fiber spine is in the ground.

Building those off ramps from the I-Way will take locally-tailored solutions and more investment from communities, he says. Whether cash-strapped eastern Kentucky towns, some still grappling with double-digit unemployment, can manage is an open question.

Massachusetts

Western Mass Proud! 24 rural towns authorize over $38M for their regional fiber network, WiredWest

Other Stories

'The New Connected Countryside' Aims to Give Rural America a Road Map to Broadband by Colin Wood, GovTech

White House Launches ‘Smart City’ Initiative That Links Broadband Connectivity to Urban Solutions by Drew Clark, BroadbandBreakfast.com

Coinciding with the Smart Cities Week conference here this week, the White House released a 4,000-word summary of more than $160 million in federal research investments, leveraging more than 25 technology collaborations with local communities.

The goal of these efforts? Tackling such key challenges, in the words of the White House, as “reducing traffic congestion, fighting crime, fostering economic growth, managing the effects of a changing climate, and improving the delivery of city services.”