Economic development in rural areas depends on broadband access – but the FCC’s current initiatives won’t help.

The FCC stacks the deck against broadband in rural and poor urban districts.

The Fiber Broadband Association – formerly the FTTH Council – broadened its technology base but its conference emphasized fiber to the home as the ultimate goal.

Welcome to the world of white boxes (for the haves) and white spaces (for the have-nots).

Carriers already share many network assets, but they aren’t always forthcoming about these relationships. Why not accept the inevitable?

Three award winners illustrate different approaches to connecting the unconnected.

How should a small, agile fiber overbuilder decide where to expand next?

At the 2017 Broadband Communities Summit, held in Dallas in May, fiber deployers shared their experiences and vendors displayed their new technology.

Rural Georgians were falling ever further behind their metropolitan neighbors in terms of broadband access. Now the state legislature is preparing a comprehensive initiative to address the problem.

New ideas are needed to get adequate broadband to rural areas.

In many rural areas, traditional operators have failed to invest in telecommunications infrastructure. Strategic investments by property owners, groups of owners, local associations and local governments can jump-start competition.

How can state legislators help spread the gigabit wealth to more constituents? That’s not a rhetorical question – this legislator is looking for new ideas.

5G wireless, due to begin rolling out in 2020, will improve mobile broadband and support the internet of things. It may even be suitable for fixed broadband in dense urban areas. But it has neither the capacity nor the cost-effectiveness to address the rural fixed broadband gap.

Until recently, most municipal fiber networks were built by existing municipal utilities. Experience with outside plant, billing and customer service gave them a head start toward providing broadband. But today, cities without utility departments are forging new paths to build and operate broadband networks.

How to pay for the last mile, sustainably and at low risk

Together, electric co-ops and small rural telcos have what it takes to bring advanced broadband to underserved rural areas.