Last week Chris Mitchell and the Institute for Local Self Reliance published a report and a number of maps that highlight the prevalence and barriers to publicly owned networks. Chris is a champion for publicly owned networks and tracks there better than anyone one I know.

The maps are helpful both to communities and policy makers. There appear to be clusters of publicly owned networks – where you find both cable and fiber networks.

This map tells an important truth: community networks are not a fad. They have been around for decades and have proven themselves many times over.

The report highlights the role that local, state and national policies will have on ability of communities to approach public networks and the intrinsic value of those networks. The value of a publicly owned network isn’t measured in profits alone as the report points out…

The results are impressive: millions of dollars of community savings; some of the best broadband networks in the country offering a real choice to residents and businesses; and increased investment from incumbent cable and phone companies as they respond to a new non-profit competitor.

The report also points out how a local publicly owned network allows the local community to set the local policies – potentially leap frogging national rules.

The citizens and businesses in each of the towns on our map have a network that will offer access to the open Internet
– because they own the network and they make the rules for it.

Public networks are one route, a valuable route, that communities have to taking control of their economic future.