After two years enmeshed in the unglamorous work of coalition-building, speed test data collection, and pushing state leaders to invest in better telecommunication infrastructure across Oakland’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, digital equity advocates in the East Bay city are finally seeing the fruits of their labor pay off.

The city was recently awarded a $15 million grant from the state’s $2 billion dollar Federal Funding Account, administered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

The grant will fund the construction of a city-owned, open-access, hybrid middle mile/last mile fiber network – one of a half-dozen grant awards the CPUC approved in the first round of funding, most of which went to support community broadband initiatives.

Courtesy of federal Rescue Plan dollars, the infusion of cash will allow the city to deploy nearly 13 miles of new middle mile 144-count fiber, upgrade almost 12 miles of existing city-owned fiber, and add 9 miles of new last mile fiber connections. As the city’s network is built, it will be connected to the state’s new massive open access middle mile network now under construction.

The FFA grants are part of California’s larger Broadband For All initiative, a $6 billion effort aimed at seeding competition and expanding broadband access across the Golden State.

The Oakland project not only paves the way for the city to connect 14 community anchor institutions (CAIs) and nine public safety buildings, it will also expand high-speed Internet access to thousands of unserved and underserved addresses in West and East Oakland.

After two years enmeshed in the unglamorous work of coalition-building, speed test data collection, and pushing state leaders to invest in better telecommunication infrastructure across Oakland’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, digital equity advocates in the East Bay city are finally seeing the fruits of their labor pay off.

The city was recently awarded a $15 million grant from the state’s $2 billion dollar Federal Funding Account, administered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

The grant will fund the construction of a city-owned, open-access, hybrid middle mile/last mile fiber network – one of a half-dozen grant awards the CPUC approved in the first round of funding, most of which went to support community broadband initiatives.

Courtesy of federal Rescue Plan dollars, the infusion of cash will allow the city to deploy nearly 13 miles of new middle mile 144-count fiber, upgrade almost 12 miles of existing city-owned fiber, and add 9 miles of new last mile fiber connections. As the city’s network is built, it will be connected to the state’s new massive open access middle mile network now under construction.

The FFA grants are part of California’s larger Broadband For All initiative, a $6 billion effort aimed at seeding competition and expanding broadband access across the Golden State.

The Oakland project not only paves the way for the city to connect 14 community anchor institutions (CAIs) and nine public safety buildings, it will also expand high-speed Internet access to thousands of unserved and underserved addresses in West and East Oakland.

As the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now bankrupt and no longer helping low-income households pay for home Internet service, the City of San Francisco is being honored with the 2024 Community Broadband Project of the Year Award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program.

Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network – which since 2002 has been used to connect city and public safety facilities, hospitals, libraries and street lights – California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city-owned network to deliver free high-speed Internet service to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.

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The program currently serves over 14,300 affordable housing units in the city, as well as 1,500 beds at homeless shelters across 115 sites, city officials say. An additional 10,000 residential units are expected to be connected in the coming fiscal year, with the aim of serving 30,000 units by July 2025.

According to the city’s website, the program has connected 52 public housing locations across the city to “fiber-optic and Ethernet cabling in every housing unit.” An additional 63 housing locations are getting free Internet through onsite Wi-Fi with download speeds ranging from 60 to 120 Mbps (Megabits per second), which exceeds the 50 Mbps service Comcast’s Internet Essentials offers.

As the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now bankrupt and no longer helping low-income households pay for home Internet service, the City of San Francisco is being honored with the 2024 Community Broadband Project of the Year Award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program.

Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network – which since 2002 has been used to connect city and public safety facilities, hospitals, libraries and street lights – California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city-owned network to deliver free high-speed Internet service to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.

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The program currently serves over 14,300 affordable housing units in the city, as well as 1,500 beds at homeless shelters across 115 sites, city officials say. An additional 10,000 residential units are expected to be connected in the coming fiscal year, with the aim of serving 30,000 units by July 2025.

According to the city’s website, the program has connected 52 public housing locations across the city to “fiber-optic and Ethernet cabling in every housing unit.” An additional 63 housing locations are getting free Internet through onsite Wi-Fi with download speeds ranging from 60 to 120 Mbps (Megabits per second), which exceeds the 50 Mbps service Comcast’s Internet Essentials offers.

As the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now bankrupt and no longer helping low-income households pay for home Internet service, the City of San Francisco is being honored with the 2024 Community Broadband Project of the Year Award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program.

Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network – which since 2002 has been used to connect city and public safety facilities, hospitals, libraries and street lights – California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city-owned network to deliver free high-speed Internet service to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.

Image

The program currently serves over 14,300 affordable housing units in the city, as well as 1,500 beds at homeless shelters across 115 sites, city officials say. An additional 10,000 residential units are expected to be connected in the coming fiscal year, with the aim of serving 30,000 units by July 2025.

According to the city’s website, the program has connected 52 public housing locations across the city to “fiber-optic and Ethernet cabling in every housing unit.” An additional 63 housing locations are getting free Internet through onsite Wi-Fi with download speeds ranging from 60 to 120 Mbps (Megabits per second), which exceeds the 50 Mbps service Comcast’s Internet Essentials offers.

As the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now bankrupt and no longer helping low-income households pay for home Internet service, the City of San Francisco is being honored with the 2024 Community Broadband Project of the Year Award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program.

Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network – which since 2002 has been used to connect city and public safety facilities, hospitals, libraries and street lights – California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city-owned network to deliver free high-speed Internet service to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.

Image

The program currently serves over 14,300 affordable housing units in the city, as well as 1,500 beds at homeless shelters across 115 sites, city officials say. An additional 10,000 residential units are expected to be connected in the coming fiscal year, with the aim of serving 30,000 units by July 2025.

According to the city’s website, the program has connected 52 public housing locations across the city to “fiber-optic and Ethernet cabling in every housing unit.” An additional 63 housing locations are getting free Internet through onsite Wi-Fi with download speeds ranging from 60 to 120 Mbps (Megabits per second), which exceeds the 50 Mbps service Comcast’s Internet Essentials offers.

As the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now bankrupt and no longer helping low-income households pay for home Internet service, the City of San Francisco is being honored with the 2024 Community Broadband Project of the Year Award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program.

Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network – which since 2002 has been used to connect city and public safety facilities, hospitals, libraries and street lights – California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city-owned network to deliver free high-speed Internet service to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.

Image

The program currently serves over 14,300 affordable housing units in the city, as well as 1,500 beds at homeless shelters across 115 sites, city officials say. An additional 10,000 residential units are expected to be connected in the coming fiscal year, with the aim of serving 30,000 units by July 2025.

According to the city’s website, the program has connected 52 public housing locations across the city to “fiber-optic and Ethernet cabling in every housing unit.” An additional 63 housing locations are getting free Internet through onsite Wi-Fi with download speeds ranging from 60 to 120 Mbps (Megabits per second), which exceeds the 50 Mbps service Comcast’s Internet Essentials offers.

As the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now bankrupt and no longer helping low-income households pay for home Internet service, the City of San Francisco is being honored with the 2024 Community Broadband Project of the Year Award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program.

Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network – which since 2002 has been used to connect city and public safety facilities, hospitals, libraries and street lights – California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city-owned network to deliver free high-speed Internet service to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.

Image

The program currently serves over 14,300 affordable housing units in the city, as well as 1,500 beds at homeless shelters across 115 sites, city officials say. An additional 10,000 residential units are expected to be connected in the coming fiscal year, with the aim of serving 30,000 units by July 2025.

According to the city’s website, the program has connected 52 public housing locations across the city to “fiber-optic and Ethernet cabling in every housing unit.” An additional 63 housing locations are getting free Internet through onsite Wi-Fi with download speeds ranging from 60 to 120 Mbps (Megabits per second), which exceeds the 50 Mbps service Comcast’s Internet Essentials offers.

As the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now bankrupt and no longer helping low-income households pay for home Internet service, the City of San Francisco is being honored with the 2024 Community Broadband Project of the Year Award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program.

Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network – which since 2002 has been used to connect city and public safety facilities, hospitals, libraries and street lights – California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city-owned network to deliver free high-speed Internet service to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.

Image

The program currently serves over 14,300 affordable housing units in the city, as well as 1,500 beds at homeless shelters across 115 sites, city officials say. An additional 10,000 residential units are expected to be connected in the coming fiscal year, with the aim of serving 30,000 units by July 2025.

According to the city’s website, the program has connected 52 public housing locations across the city to “fiber-optic and Ethernet cabling in every housing unit.” An additional 63 housing locations are getting free Internet through onsite Wi-Fi with download speeds ranging from 60 to 120 Mbps (Megabits per second), which exceeds the 50 Mbps service Comcast’s Internet Essentials offers.

As the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now bankrupt and no longer helping low-income households pay for home Internet service, the City of San Francisco is being honored with the 2024 Community Broadband Project of the Year Award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) for its Fiber to Housing (FTH) program.

Built on the back of the city’s municipally-owned fiber optic network – which since 2002 has been used to connect city and public safety facilities, hospitals, libraries and street lights – California’s fourth most populous city is well on its way to extending the city-owned network to deliver free high-speed Internet service to 30,000 affordable housing units across the city.

Image

The program currently serves over 14,300 affordable housing units in the city, as well as 1,500 beds at homeless shelters across 115 sites, city officials say. An additional 10,000 residential units are expected to be connected in the coming fiscal year, with the aim of serving 30,000 units by July 2025.

According to the city’s website, the program has connected 52 public housing locations across the city to “fiber-optic and Ethernet cabling in every housing unit.” An additional 63 housing locations are getting free Internet through onsite Wi-Fi with download speeds ranging from 60 to 120 Mbps (Megabits per second), which exceeds the 50 Mbps service Comcast’s Internet Essentials offers.