The digital divide has held back the United States for too long. Now is the time to end it.

The first virtual edition of the Fiber Broadband Association’s annual conference, Fiber Connect, held in December, showcased many fiber community success stories and a variety of innovations that promise to expand fiber deployment. The show highlighted how communities are banding together and working with state and federal agencies to build out broadband in underserved communities. It also brought to light the need to increase bandwidth and provide flexible service during the pandemic, along with the problem of permitting obstacles and other challenges.

The new head of the Fiber Broadband Association shares his vision for the industry.

The 2021 broadband plans of incumbent telcos, independents, cable operators and electric co-ops will have a ripple effect on consumers and businesses.

Broadband should bring people together, not drive them apart.

Charlie Vogt, a telecom veteran who has led a mix of voice, video and optical vendors, took the reins of DZS in August. He aims to solidify the company’s position in fiber to the home (FTTH), 5G, smart homes, connected building/city solutions and software-defined networking.

Because of COVID-19 facility closures, 50 million K–12 public school students have had to learn remotely from home.

Americans know how to design and build fast networks. Now we need to identify how to use them to make our lives better.

In its annual conference, which will be held virtually from December 14–16, 2020, the Fiber Broadband Association will bring together experts in all aspects of fiber to the home (FTTH).

This year’s event is our best ever – 30 sessions with more than 100 of the industry’s top experts plus plenty of opportunities to network and engage.

At the Broadband Communities Virtual Summit 2020, participants shared stories about finding new methods to extend broadband into underserved and unserved rural markets. Following are some highlights of conference sessions focused on the rural broadband market.

Electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities are partnering with competitive providers and telcos to close the systemic rural broadband gap.

The emerging model presents a scalable option for communities that lack the expertise or interest to operate networks or act as ISPs themselves but want to own and control the core communications assets in their communities as a means of securing the benefits of broadband internet. Here’s a look at the model’s business case, technical elements and risks.

A town may not be ready to take the plunge on building a network, but there are steps it can take to attract private investment.

Broadband partnerships can take many forms. Communities in search of better broadband should familiarize themselves with a wide range of successful solutions.

For the economy to function at all in 2020, broadband is a must.

Service providers need to provide their MDU customers with a power statement that addresses their unique pain points.

With demand for remote health care and mental health services on the rise, pursuing telehealth is a smart marketing strategy for broadband service providers.

To provide more people with broadband, Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corporation quickly installed Wi-Fi hot spots and is launching a neighborhood program to gauge community interest in accessing its network.

ACE collaborates with other co-ops, confronting cost and culture challenges and providing broadband to more residents in Alcorn County.

The case for private investment in community networks rests on investors’ ability to capture the networks’ impact on economic development.

There’s a new reason to provide more funds for broadband deployments, and a new tool for deployers to target the counties most in need – especially in rural areas.

To boost the economy, broadband providers and the communities they serve must unite in a vision for a connected future.

The I3 Connectivity Explorer allows users to assemble and analyze essential data needed to assess their communities’ current situations, envision their goals, and develop action plans.

The FCC’s support for mmWave wireless systems in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund gives rural operators another option to extend broadband services to more customers.

New research identifies tactics for connecting unserved communities.

The FCC’s upcoming RDOF auction, scheduled for October, will give rural communities a chance to bid on support for fiber-to-the-home networks.

Communities hoping to improve their broadband service have several different models to choose from. Here’s how to go about making the choice.

By defining goals, gathering data and asking the right questions, communities can develop broadband master plans that lay the groundwork for high-speed networks.

As the community overcomes its business-sector broadband challenges, it looks for ways to extend services to residents who have poor broadband access options.

UTOPIA Fiber is expanding through Utah and beyond, proving that fiber-to-the-home deployments can succeed even in small, rural towns.

Stacking subsidies may be the only way to get fiber to the home built in some of the most rural areas.

There’s more than one way to get better broadband – but how should communities decide what’s best?

It is suddenly cost-effective to borrow money for small deployments, or to arrange a self-amortizing lease. Here’s why – and how.

The USDA’s ReConnect Program and the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will help bridge the digital divide and drive the community broadband movement.

The Michigan Moonshot initiative addresses the student and community broadband access gap in Michigan by leveraging the efforts of a broad coalition of stakeholders.

Automated open-access networks enable any number of independent service providers to lease capacity, so customers can choose different services at competitive prices.

The electric cooperative’s fiber broadband service attracts second homeowners and telecommuters to communities in the Southeast where broadband was once nonexistent.

NEXTGEN TV – the latest branding for ATSC 3.0 – has clear technical and moneymaking advantages over ATSC 1.0, the current standard for TV broadcasting and linear cable TV.

New challenges for ISPs mean if you aren’t growing, you’re dying.

~ This article will appear in the March/April issue. ~

The Rural Utilities Service made good on its promise of world-class service. The first ReConnect grants and loans offer convincing proof that private investment could work in unserved and underserved areas, even though Wall Street shuns them.

Several state-level political strategies can help convince policymakers to provide support to broadband providers that wish to deploy in unserved or underserved areas.

Large incumbent telcos, independent telcos, cable operators and electric cooperatives set bold broadband plans for 2020.

Broadband Communities authors look forward to the fiber future.

At Broadband Communities’ 2019 economic development conference, held in October in Alexandria, Virginia, participants shared stories about how communities are improving broadband access to facilitate economic development, digital literacy and consumer choices. Following are some of the highlights of the conference sessions.

People in rural areas simply can’t rely on the same fiber-rich, centralized split model that works in more densely populated areas. Distributed tap architectures may offer a solution.

Broadband is essential to a community’s survival, but building out service to rural areas comes with financial challenges. Service providers have several options to help.

At the Broadband Communities economic development conference in October, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks delivered a powerful call to make internet inequality across the United States a thing of the past. A data-driven review of what has and hasn’t worked over the past 10 years will help determine the path forward, he says.

As open FTTH networks emerge again in the United States, investors dedicate capital to community networks that will support an array of traditional internet, telehealth and building management services.

In Sweden, municipal broadband is the rule rather than the exception. That changes everything.

Ocala adds residential internet-only FTTH services to a multipurpose fiber network that will help it become a smart city.

With school connectivity goals accomplished, the program prepares to end, leaving new programs in place to make sure the classroom gap stays closed.

Every community shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Even in a gigabit world, it takes more than great internet speed to keep MDU residents happy.

Building flexibility into the budget, schedule and deployment plan can save the day when things go wrong.

Remembering Gene Crick, a visionary leader devoted to empowering people through broadband

Chesterfield leveraged changes in New Hampshire state laws that let communities issue public bonds to fund broadband networks. The town’s partnership with Consolidated Communications to build a townwide FTTH network could serve as a model for other communities.

Economic development professionals who completed the Revving the Community Broadband Economic Engine survey weighed in on the current availability, affordability and speed of broadband – and how communities are working to increase all three.

Service providers and communities should look for common ground with public infrastructure and investments to spur rural broadband buildouts.

The biggest challenge municipal networks face may be connecting to the public internet. Here’s a guide to overcoming that challenge.

Three approaches to community broadband networks

Building next-generation gigabit architecture and outstanding subscriber experience into today’s networks is a sound investment.

As electric utilities consider fiber network plays, well-thought-out designs will be key to their success. Here’s how Huntsville Utilities used value engineering to control fiber network construction costs and hone its plan.

When you can’t fund a communitywide network, your best strategy may be funding today’s best-served areas.

The technology challenge for a rural community is closing the gap between the digital infrastructure that is profitable for commercial providers but serves only part of the community and the infrastructure necessary to serve all community members. Local leaders, driven by a clear, aspirational vision of their community’s future, can proactively address this gap.

Providing broadband locally – with help from electric utilities – can be a good way to anchor rural economies.

In communities throughout the United States, people of all political persuasions know their economic vitality and quality of life depend on access to robust broadband.

To deliver broadband cost-effectively, a community’s best option may be to partner with the incumbent telephone company.

To ensure their economic survival, communities must be active participants in broadband planning.

For rural communities struggling to connect to the internet, working together at any point in the process can yield benefits. 

Many community fiber networks now outsource service provision. Here are some guidelines for making such a relationship a success.

Highlights of the 2018 Broadband Communities Summit held in May in Austin, Texas

The Broadband Communities Summit brings together participants in the multifamily, rural, economic development, technology and policy worlds. This issue of the magazine has something for all of them.

San Francisco is considering two options for a citywide open-access network. Both are good, but one option offers significant advantages.

Citizens and local elected officials should be able to control their communities’ broadband destinies.

The traditional telecom model is not working. For a locality to succeed with a municipal broadband alternative, it can’t just duplicate the incumbent model.

What communities should do during the planning phase of a broadband project – and what they can save for later

Broadband Communities’ 2017 census of municipal and public-private fiber networks now shows 216 active projects – and many more in preliminary stages.

Three award winners illustrate different approaches to connecting the unconnected.

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

Communities should look at all options for improving their broadband access.

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

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

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.

Communities can finance fiber-to-the-home networks by applying the cost reductions that the networks make possible.

Broadband Communities’ latest modeling tool enables easy calculation of costs and benefits for network builds that use multiple technologies or will be completed in multiple phases.

Following are highlights from the 2016 Broadband Communities conference on broadband and economic development, held in Minneapolis in October. These excerpts are from sessions about gaining support from state legislators and the impacts of local fiber networks.