The Institute for Local Self Reliance reports…

By any measure, 2025 was a tough year in the grand project to extend fast, affordable, reliable broadband access to every home in the United States. The Digital Equity Act was abruptly cancelled, BEAD was restructured, small- and large-scale outages were common, and prices from the monopolies rose yet again.

But good things happened, too. In 2025, we saw seven new municipal broadband networks across the country that were lit up for service. As is usual, it was a mixture of partnerships, business models, and construction approaches to meet the unique challenges of a patchwork broadband landscape.

Willmar gets a nice nod…

Honorable mention to cities like Willmar, Minnesota – which did a monumental amount of preparatory work in 2025 and will start building its open access retail network later this year.