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Sustain, Empower, Evolve: Next Building for Digital Equity Marks Digital Inclusion Week, Looks at What's Actually Working
As Digital Inclusion Week 2026 kicks off October 4-10, the Building for Digital Equity webinar series — co-hosted by the Institute for Local Self Reliance’s (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) — returns on October 8th. The livestream will feature a special spotlight on building wireless connectivity for tiny-home communities in Seattle that will uniquely engage the audience in a case-study exploring how local expertise is harnessed, coordinating a cadre of local volunteers, and facing down the challenges of sustainability.
New Hampshire Electric Cooperative Gets $5.5 Million BEAD Grant For Fiber
The New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC) has been awarded a $5.58 million federal broadband grant to help expand affordable fiber access to the rural and underserved parts of its service territory in The Granite State. According to a cooperative announcement, NHEC officials say the New Hampshire Office of Broadband Initiatives has awarded it a $5.58 million grant courtesy of the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, made possible by the 2021 infrastructure bill.
Federal Agencies Still Can't Get Their Broadband Data Straight, GAO Finds
A recent Government Accountability Office report reveals what’s been obvious to broadband deployment experts for years now: the federal government’s multi-agency approach to closing the digital divide is undermined by a lack of coordination and data-management among agencies. The result is an FCC broadband coverage map with an amalgamation of inaccuracies that misrepresents where high-speed Internet service does or does not exist, a flaw that can steer taxpayer dollars away from communities that actually need them.
Can't See the Sky for the Trees: Obstruction Could Plague Ohio’s Planned Starlink BEAD Plan
Researchers say they’re concerned that a massive influx of new federal grant money being redirected to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband company in Ohio will be thwarted by the simple fact that many targeted locations don’t have a clear, unobstructed view of the sky. Tom Reid of Reid Consulting conducted a study earlier this year taking a closer look at the 30,000 locations in Ohio that are poised to receive subsidized service from Starlink, and found that as many as 70 percent of the target locations were covered by tree canopy preventing the minimum 110-degree field of view Starlink dishes require.
Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative Gets $13.2 Million BEAD Grant For Fiber Expansion
Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative (PPEC) was awarded $13.2 million in federal broadband grant support to help fund a major fiber-to-the-home expansion to rural unserved segments of northeast Indiana. According to a cooperative announcement, the co-op will receive $13.2 million in BEAD (Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment) federal grant funding from the Indiana Broadband Office, matched by $10.3 million in cooperative investment, to bring affordable fiber to thousands of unserved residents in Allen, Adams, DeKalb and Noble counties.
Researchers Say Federal Policy Is Pricing Low-Income Pennsylvanians Off the Internet
Researchers tells Pennsylvania House Communications & Technology Committee that persistent attacks by the federal government on Internet affordability protections and social safety nets are directly resulting in a drop in overall broadband adoption, with large numbers of low-income Americans unable to afford modern connectivity — and the vast benefits it provides. Researchers noted that sustained efforts by the federal government across numerous fronts — from attacks on the social safety net to the Republican destruction of the FCC Affordable Connectivity Program (which provided $30 broadband discounts to more than 23 million households) are directly driving vulnerable populations away from Internet adoption.
ILSR Launches Broadband Data and Policy Forum
Working with the Federal Communications Commission's broadband data is hard. It's complex, at times capricious, and presents a host of pitfalls for analysts and researchers around the country. ILSR is here to help. We're excited to host the Broadband Data and Policy Forum, a place where data researchers across all sectors can compare notes, share tools, and troubleshoot with one another. Join us as we build a community of practice!
Texas Hold 'Em: State Freezes BEAD Funding Amid Musk Favoritism Claims
The Texas Broadband Development Office (BDO) says that it has placed Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) broadband grant money on hold to address continued claims that the program has been unfairly tilted to the direct benefit of billionaire Elon Musk. In July, the office faced widespread accusations that Trump administration changes made to the BEAD program deprioritized faster fiber technologies and gave an unfair advantage to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and their slower, more congested low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite technologies.
‘Not Living in the Cloud’: Hoopa Valley Tribe Builds Digital Sovereignty With New Network Hub
The Hoopa Valley Tribe is celebrating the opening of its new fiber network operations center as the Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District (HVPUD) expands fiber-to-the-home Internet service throughout the Hoopa Valley Reservation and into neighboring communities just outside of its Tribal lands. To mark the occasion earlier this summer, more than 50 community members, Tribal leaders, HVPUD staff, and project partners attended the July 17 opening celebration.
Penasco Valley Co-op Uses $1 Million Grant For Fiber Disaster Prep
New Mexico-based Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative (PVT) is using a $1 million disaster relief grant from the New Mexico Office Of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) to construct and expand reliable Internet access in numerous New Mexico communities that have historically been subjected to wildfires and flooding. According to cooperative leadership, PVT is building an alternate fiber broadband route to establish more resilient and redundant connectivity to inhabitants of areas like the Capitan Mountains Wilderness, where the Seven Cabins Fire recently burned 31,000 acres after the crash of a medical plane last June.
East Longmeadow Approves $43.5 Million for Municipal Fiber Network
Three months after town meeting voters in Longmeadow, Massachusetts rejected an $8.6 million proposal to kickstart the construction of a municipal fiber network, Town Councilors in the neighboring town of East Longmeadow moved in a different direction, voting to take control of its digital future and provide its residents and businesses with next-generation Internet access. The move was formalized earlier this month when East Longmeadow Town Councilors unanimously approved issuing $43.5 million in bonds to finance the construction of a municipally-owned fiber network.
With State Backing, NYC Mesh's Volunteer-Run Mesh Network Pushes Into Central Brooklyn
Officials for the volunteer-run nonprofit NYC Mesh have been been awarded a new $898,000 grant from New York State’s ConnectALL initiative that should help the project expand affordable wireless Internet access to the Big Apple’s most vulnerable populations. The grant is one of $8.3 million in new grants recently awarded by New York State providing much-needed financial assistance to community or municipally run broadband connectivity initiatives through the Connectivity Innovation – Business Model Awards, which support organizations using “novel financing strategies” to serve low-income and rural communities.