At the “Municipal Broadband and Innovative Financing Models: Unlocking Economic Growth” webinar earlier today, attendees got an inside look at how successful community broadband networks have been funded – and how cities and towns can still finance networks even with the uncertainty now swirling around the federal BEAD program.

Co-hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), the webinar featured a wealth of municipal broadband financing knowledge from four guests with deep experience navigating the numbers.

Co-host Gigi Sohn, who was joined by ILSR’s Sean Gonsalves, began the webinar with a brief explanation on why AAPB and ILSR are joining forces for what will be a series of webinars designed to assist cities and towns in how local and state leaders can deal with solving local connectivity challenges where the big incumbent ISPs have failed to deliver ubiquitous and reliable service.

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“I've been traveling around the country and I hear from a lot of communities who are very interested in a model where they control their broadband networks in their communities,” she said. “We want to kind of demystify the finance part and try to get communities more comfortable with how they can move forward.”

The first guest expert to take center screen was Ernie Staten, the City of Fairlawn, Ohio’s Public Service Department Director.

At the “Municipal Broadband and Innovative Financing Models: Unlocking Economic Growth” webinar earlier today, attendees got an inside look at how successful community broadband networks have been funded – and how cities and towns can still finance networks even with the uncertainty now swirling around the federal BEAD program.

Co-hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), the webinar featured a wealth of municipal broadband financing knowledge from four guests with deep experience navigating the numbers.

Co-host Gigi Sohn, who was joined by ILSR’s Sean Gonsalves, began the webinar with a brief explanation on why AAPB and ILSR are joining forces for what will be a series of webinars designed to assist cities and towns in how local and state leaders can deal with solving local connectivity challenges where the big incumbent ISPs have failed to deliver ubiquitous and reliable service.

Image

“I've been traveling around the country and I hear from a lot of communities who are very interested in a model where they control their broadband networks in their communities,” she said. “We want to kind of demystify the finance part and try to get communities more comfortable with how they can move forward.”

The first guest expert to take center screen was Ernie Staten, the City of Fairlawn, Ohio’s Public Service Department Director.

At the “Municipal Broadband and Innovative Financing Models: Unlocking Economic Growth” webinar earlier today, attendees got an inside look at how successful community broadband networks have been funded – and how cities and towns can still finance networks even with the uncertainty now swirling around the federal BEAD program.

Co-hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), the webinar featured a wealth of municipal broadband financing knowledge from four guests with deep experience navigating the numbers.

Co-host Gigi Sohn, who was joined by ILSR’s Sean Gonsalves, began the webinar with a brief explanation on why AAPB and ILSR are joining forces for what will be a series of webinars designed to assist cities and towns in how local and state leaders can deal with solving local connectivity challenges where the big incumbent ISPs have failed to deliver ubiquitous and reliable service.

Image

“I've been traveling around the country and I hear from a lot of communities who are very interested in a model where they control their broadband networks in their communities,” she said. “We want to kind of demystify the finance part and try to get communities more comfortable with how they can move forward.”

The first guest expert to take center screen was Ernie Staten, the City of Fairlawn, Ohio’s Public Service Department Director.

At the “Municipal Broadband and Innovative Financing Models: Unlocking Economic Growth” webinar earlier today, attendees got an inside look at how successful community broadband networks have been funded – and how cities and towns can still finance networks even with the uncertainty now swirling around the federal BEAD program.

Co-hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), the webinar featured a wealth of municipal broadband financing knowledge from four guests with deep experience navigating the numbers.

Co-host Gigi Sohn, who was joined by ILSR’s Sean Gonsalves, began the webinar with a brief explanation on why AAPB and ILSR are joining forces for what will be a series of webinars designed to assist cities and towns in how local and state leaders can deal with solving local connectivity challenges where the big incumbent ISPs have failed to deliver ubiquitous and reliable service.

Image

“I've been traveling around the country and I hear from a lot of communities who are very interested in a model where they control their broadband networks in their communities,” she said. “We want to kind of demystify the finance part and try to get communities more comfortable with how they can move forward.”

The first guest expert to take center screen was Ernie Staten, the City of Fairlawn, Ohio’s Public Service Department Director.

At the “Municipal Broadband and Innovative Financing Models: Unlocking Economic Growth” webinar earlier today, attendees got an inside look at how successful community broadband networks have been funded – and how cities and towns can still finance networks even with the uncertainty now swirling around the federal BEAD program.

Co-hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), the webinar featured a wealth of municipal broadband financing knowledge from four guests with deep experience navigating the numbers.

Co-host Gigi Sohn, who was joined by ILSR’s Sean Gonsalves, began the webinar with a brief explanation on why AAPB and ILSR are joining forces for what will be a series of webinars designed to assist cities and towns in how local and state leaders can deal with solving local connectivity challenges where the big incumbent ISPs have failed to deliver ubiquitous and reliable service.

Image

“I've been traveling around the country and I hear from a lot of communities who are very interested in a model where they control their broadband networks in their communities,” she said. “We want to kind of demystify the finance part and try to get communities more comfortable with how they can move forward.”

The first guest expert to take center screen was Ernie Staten, the City of Fairlawn, Ohio’s Public Service Department Director.

In March, Charter Communications tried (and failed) to include a poison bill in New York State’s budget bill that would have hamstrung community broadband. In stark contrast, a New York legislator this month introduced new legislation he says would make it easier than ever for New York state municipal broadband projects to thrive.

State Senator Jeremy Cooney of Rochester has introduced the Broadband Deployment Assistance Act of 2024 (S9134), which would streamline the permitting process for municipal broadband projects by "amending the general municipal law, in relation to requiring substantially similar permits for broadband deployment to be processed together at the same time and on an expedited basis."

“With a quicker timeline and more efficient process for local governments, we can create affordable options for New Yorkers that empower them to take control of their digital destiny,” Cooney wrote in an editorial published at Syracuse.com.

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Cooney says he was motivated by a lack of broadband competition in New York State. New York is dominated by Charter Communications, which was almost kicked out of the state in 2019 for poor service and  misleading regulators about broadband deployment conditions affixed to its 2016 purchase of Time Warner Cable.

In March, Charter Communications tried (and failed) to include a poison bill in New York State’s budget bill that would have hamstrung community broadband. In stark contrast, a New York legislator this month introduced new legislation he says would make it easier than ever for New York state municipal broadband projects to thrive.

State Senator Jeremy Cooney of Rochester has introduced the Broadband Deployment Assistance Act of 2024 (S9134), which would streamline the permitting process for municipal broadband projects by "amending the general municipal law, in relation to requiring substantially similar permits for broadband deployment to be processed together at the same time and on an expedited basis."

“With a quicker timeline and more efficient process for local governments, we can create affordable options for New Yorkers that empower them to take control of their digital destiny,” Cooney wrote in an editorial published at Syracuse.com.

Image

Cooney says he was motivated by a lack of broadband competition in New York State. New York is dominated by Charter Communications, which was almost kicked out of the state in 2019 for poor service and  misleading regulators about broadband deployment conditions affixed to its 2016 purchase of Time Warner Cable.

In March, Charter Communications tried (and failed) to include a poison bill in New York State’s budget bill that would have hamstrung community broadband. In stark contrast, a New York legislator this month introduced new legislation he says would make it easier than ever for New York state municipal broadband projects to thrive.

State Senator Jeremy Cooney of Rochester has introduced the Broadband Deployment Assistance Act of 2024 (S9134), which would streamline the permitting process for municipal broadband projects by "amending the general municipal law, in relation to requiring substantially similar permits for broadband deployment to be processed together at the same time and on an expedited basis."

“With a quicker timeline and more efficient process for local governments, we can create affordable options for New Yorkers that empower them to take control of their digital destiny,” Cooney wrote in an editorial published at Syracuse.com.

Image

Cooney says he was motivated by a lack of broadband competition in New York State. New York is dominated by Charter Communications, which was almost kicked out of the state in 2019 for poor service and  misleading regulators about broadband deployment conditions affixed to its 2016 purchase of Time Warner Cable.

In March, Charter Communications tried (and failed) to include a poison bill in New York State’s budget bill that would have hamstrung community broadband. In stark contrast, a New York legislator this month introduced new legislation he says would make it easier than ever for New York state municipal broadband projects to thrive.

State Senator Jeremy Cooney of Rochester has introduced the Broadband Deployment Assistance Act of 2024 (S9134), which would streamline the permitting process for municipal broadband projects by "amending the general municipal law, in relation to requiring substantially similar permits for broadband deployment to be processed together at the same time and on an expedited basis."

“With a quicker timeline and more efficient process for local governments, we can create affordable options for New Yorkers that empower them to take control of their digital destiny,” Cooney wrote in an editorial published at Syracuse.com.

Image

Cooney says he was motivated by a lack of broadband competition in New York State. New York is dominated by Charter Communications, which was almost kicked out of the state in 2019 for poor service and  misleading regulators about broadband deployment conditions affixed to its 2016 purchase of Time Warner Cable.

In March, Charter Communications tried (and failed) to include a poison bill in New York State’s budget bill that would have hamstrung community broadband. In stark contrast, a New York legislator this month introduced new legislation he says would make it easier than ever for New York state municipal broadband projects to thrive.

State Senator Jeremy Cooney of Rochester has introduced the Broadband Deployment Assistance Act of 2024 (S9134), which would streamline the permitting process for municipal broadband projects by "amending the general municipal law, in relation to requiring substantially similar permits for broadband deployment to be processed together at the same time and on an expedited basis."

“With a quicker timeline and more efficient process for local governments, we can create affordable options for New Yorkers that empower them to take control of their digital destiny,” Cooney wrote in an editorial published at Syracuse.com.

Image

Cooney says he was motivated by a lack of broadband competition in New York State. New York is dominated by Charter Communications, which was almost kicked out of the state in 2019 for poor service and  misleading regulators about broadband deployment conditions affixed to its 2016 purchase of Time Warner Cable.