Oswego County, NY officials are celebrating the award of a new $26 million New York State grant aimed at dramatically expanding affordable fiber access to long-underserved rural communities in the northwestern part of the state, just north of Syracuse.

According to the announcement by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, Oswego’s latest grant award will help fund the deployment of 345 miles of new fiber infrastructure to largely rural unserved regions, helping to bring affordable broadband access to nearly 11,000 homes, businesses and community institutions across 22 towns and villages.

Oswego County will own the finished open access network and lease the fiber to Internet Service Providers (SPs), including Empire Access, "on a non-discriminatory and non-exclusive basis."

Empire, a family-owned ISP and named the fastest ISP in the nation by PCMag in 2021, currently offers local residents symmetrical 500 Megabit per second (Mbps) service for $50 a month; symmetrical 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) service for $65 a month; and symmetrical 2 Gbps service for $100 a month.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently unveiled plans to improve public safety, housing, and the overall livability of the Big Apple.

Among them is $6 million in new funding to expand the New York Public Library’s (NYPL) “Neighborhood Internet” network, providing free Internet to an additional 2,000 households receiving Section 8 rental assistance.

The city hopes that the program, which is first focused on expanding Internet access to low-income households in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, will ultimately be expanded to reach as many low income NYC residents as possible. But the effort still remains a far cry from the bolder, bigger, “master plan” initiative scrapped by the Adams administration in 2022.

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Low income city residents simply need a library card to connect to the NYPL network in the limited parts of the city where access is currently being offered. The NYPL has experimented with Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), fixed wireless, and some fiber for connectivity. The program also provides low income users with a Chromebook with Wi-Fi access.

New York State officials have unveiled the first round of broadband deployment grants made possible by the state’s $100 million Affordable Housing Connectivity Program (AHCP), which aims to drive affordable fiber and Wi-Fi to low-income state residents trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide.

As part of the program, the state recently announced it will be spending $13.1 million to connect 14,167 lower income residents across Buffalo, Rochester, upper Manhattan and the Bronx with both affordable gigabit-capable fiber – and low cost Wi-Fi.

Flume, the partner ISP chosen by the state, will offer residents the choice of three broadband tiers: 100/20 megabit per second (Mbps) fiber for $10 per month, symmetrical 200 Mbps fiber for $15 per month, and symmetrical 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) fiber for $30 per month. All three subsidized fiber options will be locked at that price point until 2034, according to the state.

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“In today's digital age, access to reliable, affordable high-speed Internet isn't just about convenience – it's about ensuring every New Yorker can participate fully in our modern economy and society,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said of the new grants. “Through these strategic investments, we're not only installing fiber and infrastructure, we're opening doors to education, healthcare and economic opportunity.”

Faster, Better, Cheaper

Here at ILSR we’re no stranger to telecom monopoly-backed efforts to mislead the public about the significant benefits of community owned broadband access.

That’s why a new “study” by the industry-backed Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) maligning municipal broadband doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

The study professes to take a look at a very small number of municipal broadband networks, then makes sweeping and patently false claims about the entire sector.

“In most cases, local governments have neither the competence nor the economies of scale to deliver broadband as well as private ISPs,” the study concludes. “So, favoring government-owned networks wastes societal resources, creates unfair competition, and is frequently unsustainable in the long run.”

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There’s numerous problems here. One being that the survey only looked at 20 municipal broadband networks in a country where more than 450 community broadband networks – serving close to 800 different communities – now pepper the American landscape.

The study author acknowledges the study’s sample size was “too small for the data to represent all U.S. [government-owned broadband networks] reliably,” then proceeds to make broad sweeping assumptions unsupported by any actual evidence.

Erie County, New York’s ErieNet broadband initiative is poised to begin construction in Buffalo, NY, after the Buffalo Common Council recently passed a resolution approving the Telecommunications License Agreement with ErieNet LDC. The approval is a major step toward bringing affordable next-gen broadband access to long-neglected parts of Western New York.

ErieNet is a nonprofit, local development corporation (LDC), launched in September 2022, designed to construct and manage a municipal-based open-access fiber optic backbone. ECC Technologies has been chosen to handle sales, marketing, and tech support operations for the network.

“Construction has already begun for ErieNet with underground conduit installations, and utility work necessary to make utility poles ready for ErieNet fiber optic cable attachments,” ECC Technologies’ VP Matthew Crider tells ISLR. “We expect segments of our network to come online beginning in March of 2025; and have the ErieNet 400+ mile open access network substantially built by the end of 2025.”

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“Bringing high-quality broadband to Erie County begins in the City of Buffalo, and the Common Council’s approval opens up the way to make that happen,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a prepared statement.

Crider told ILSR that the current construction budget for the network is approximately $34 million, funded through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) broadband grants.

Montgomery County Maryland has been awarded the “Best Municipal or Public Connectivity Program,” honored as a 2024 Broadband Nation Award winner for its ongoing efforts to expand affordable broadband access and help bridge the digital divide.

Montgomery County has worked extensively for years to connect municipal services and key anchor institutions, but more recently has begun leveraging that infrastructure to expand access to the most vulnerable. The county’s efforts have two key components:

FiberNet is a 650-mile municipal fiber communication network that provides broadband services to 558 County, State, municipal, educational, and anchor institutions.

MoCoNet is the County’s residential broadband network that provides free 300/300 megabit per second (Mbps) Internet service for residents at affordable housing locations. Originally providing a symmetrical 100 Mbps service, the network was recently upgraded to 300 Mbps, and is currently available to low-income housing communities.

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Montgomery Connects Program Director Mitsuko Herrera tells ILSR that the county just received a $10 million grant from the State of Maryland to expand FiberNet and MoCoNet’s free 300 Mbps offering to 1,547 low-income and affordable housing units at seven properties operated by the County’s Housing Opportunities Commission.

The county’s also in the middle of upgrading its core fiber infrastructure to deliver significantly faster overall speeds.  

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has announced that the District is poised to use $61.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to “support the construction of community facilities” and expand affordable broadband to underserved communities.

Though details are scant, according to the District’s announcement, the funding received from the Treasury Department will be used to drive improvements for the District’s Southeast Library, the Shaw Library, Library Community Business Centers, the Anacostia Recreation Center, and the Ward 8 Senior Wellness Center. District leaders say they’re also eyeing as-yet-undefined improvements to affordable broadband access across the city of 689,000.

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Rescue Plan recipients are facing an end-of-year deadline to both budget and obligate (contract) the federal funding for use or risk losing the funds entirely.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is making progress across the country to ensure Americans have access to the services and facilities that help them lead healthy lives and access economic opportunity,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said of the funding.

“These resources will deliver critical upgrades at community facilities for residents, particularly students and seniors, that provide essential services like high-speed Internet, financial literacy, and early learning opportunities.”