Category Archives: Community Networks

EVENT Sep 24: Aitkin County Commissioners meet to discuss the McGrath Broadband project

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Aitkin Independent Age reports…

AITKIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS CDBG-CV BROADBAND GRANT- MCGRATH PROJECT NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Notice is hereby given that the County Board of Aitkin County, Minnesota will hold a public hearing in the County Board Meeting Room in the Aitkin County Government Center, 217 2nd Street NW, Aitkin, MN 56431 on Tuesday, September 24, 2024 at 10:30 AM. The purpose of the public hearing is to discuss the completed McGrath Broadband project. All interested persons are invited to attend the public hearing or submit written comments. For further information, please contact Mark Jeffers, Economic Development Coordinator at the above address, mark.jeffers@co.aitkin.mn.us or 218-513-6188. Jessica Seibert Aitkin County Administrator Published in the Aitkin Independent Age September 18, 2024.

Updated, interactive map Community Network Map from ILSR

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The Institute for Local Self Reliance has released their new version of our Community Network Map, showing where municipal networks operate across the United States and how they are acting to bring new service, competition, and more affordable connectivity to places around the country.

Communities invest in telecommunications networks for a variety of reasons – economic development, improving access to education and health care, price stabilization, etc. They range from massive networks offering multi-gigabit service to hundreds of thousands of households to small towns connecting a few local businesses. In the map above, networks that serve more than one community are connected by a web – there is no particular significance to the center point in the web, other than to serve as a common connection point.

This map tracks a variety of ways in which local governments have invested in wired telecommunications networks as well as state laws that discourage such approaches.

Our map includes 400 municipal networks serving more than 700 communities. More than 200 of those communities are served by a publicly owned network which blankets the entire city with fiber infrastructure (Updated September 2024).

We continue to expand this map with other forms of publicly owned networks, including Indigenously owned networks and telephone and electric cooperatives. Get updates by signing up for our one-email-per-week list announcing new stories and resources.

The screenshots below show how Minnesota compares to the rest of the country. The images on the real site are easily to see:

You can search by location. I found 38 communities searching for Minnesota. Drilling down to info on each community, you can learn the population, provider and business model of the network (retail, open access, conduit, institutional and/or non-retail).

EVENT Oct 7: Building for Digital Equity #B4DE

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This looks like an interesting event…

The increasingly popular (and free) virtual gathering – co-hosted by Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) – will be held on October 7, 2024 from 3 to 4:15 PM ET.

You can register for the event above. [here]

For our third #B4DE of the year, the theme will be “Coalition Building for Success” and will bring together hundreds of frontline digital inclusion practitioners from across the nation to delve into the importance of working in coalition to grow the digital equity movement, especially as Digital Equity Act grant programs are being established.

As with the previous #B4DE events, the Digital Inclusion Week live stream will once again be sponsored by UTOPIA Fiber and co-hosted by NDIA’s Pamela Rosales and ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative Director Christopher Mitchell.

Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to learn, connect, and make a difference as digital equity advocates across the nation are leveraging historic federal investments in the expansion of broadband access and adoption.

The livestream will be available (and later archived) on Facebook, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn, with live viewer questions answered by the invited speakers and presenters. We recommend viewing it on YouTube where the live chat will be most engaging. Other questions can be submitted using the #B4DE hashtag on X.

Will your county be eligible for the $9 million in the FCC 5G Plan for Rural America subsidies?

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Doug Dawson is a very smart guy. He recently wrote about the 5G Plan for Rural America and how counties without adequate 5G could prepare for it…

The FCC announced it will move forward with the 5G Plan for Rural America. This new subsidy will provide $9 billion to improve rural cellular coverage. I know in working throughout rural America that poor cellular coverage is often a worse problem that broadband coverage.

The FCC is convinced that the current cellular coverage maps are adequate to define the areas that deserve the new subsidy. In the counties I’ve been working in this does not seem to be the case, and the FCC cellular maps often seem to be overstating speed, similar to broadband speed claims. This was bolstered by a recent letter to the FCC from the Rural Wireless Association that claims that the FCC cellular maps are poor.

Since the FCC seems determined to move forward with the current maps and seems to be on a fast track to initiate the 5G plan,  there should be a sense of urgency in any County that thinks it needs better cellular coverage. The following steps should be considered immediately because it is possible that the FCC could launch the new 5G Fund by the end of the year.

First is to look at the FCC cellular map. This is part of the same map system used to show broadband coverage. Type in any address in a county, and a detailed map will appear. Choose the Mobile Broadband button at the top and you’ll be able to see the claimed cellular coverage at any address. The 5G Fund will bring better cellular coverage to locations where there is no 5G today (just 4G LTE) or where 5G speeds are claimed to be slower than 7/1 Mbps. You can look at the parts of your county where you believe cellular coverage is poor and see if the FCC map agrees with your local knowledge.

The 5G Fund subsidy will only be awarded to areas where the FCC map shows that no carrier is offering 5G with speeds of at least 7/1 Mbps. If even only one carrier meets that criteria, the area will not get funding. You might see some cellular carriers you don’t recognize in the FCC map like Project Genesis (which is Dish) or local cellular carriers.

A next step might be to dash off quick comments to the FCC about the 5G Fund timeline. Surprisingly, the FCC is not planning to have a map challenge period for counties to contest the cellular map coverage. Comments are due to the FCC by September 10. If nothing else, tell the FCC they should include some time for a map challenge. The FCC has been talking about launching this fund for four years, and it seems irresponsible to suddenly rush without giving local governments a chance to verify and challenge the FCC cellular maps.

There was a comment made in this docket that said local governments have had plenty of time to dispute the maps since the new FCC maps have been out for several years. However, all of the counties I have been working with have been concentrating on the FCC broadband maps. Almost nobody has looked hard at claimed cellular speeds – until this order came out, nobody knew what to look for on the maps. Making a comment in an FCC docket is relatively easy to do. The first thing on the form is to ask for the proceeding, which in this case is 20-32 Establishing a 5G Fund for Rural America.

Finally, if the FCC maps overstate cellular coverage in your area you need to get folks out taking cellular speed tests using the FCC app in the areas where you think coverage is poor. To be of any use for the 5G Fund the speed tests probably need to be done this month.

Speed tests can only be done using the FCC’s own speed test app. The app is available at the Google Play Store or Apple App store. Speed tests only count if they area taken outside or in a moving vehicle – indoor tests or tests on a WiFi network don’t county. For the 5G Fund, you want to take speed tests from a stationary point, which means pulling over on the side of the road. Tests must be taken between 6:00 AM and 10:00 PM.

Nobles County discusses remaining ARPA funds

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The Worthington Globe reports…

The Nobles County Board of Commissioners discussed the allocation of its remaining American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds at Wednesday’s work session.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nobles County received $4,201,180 in ARPA funding, which was then allocated to payroll and created an opportunity to fund capital improvements, assist smaller municipalities with infrastructure projects, and invest in other county-involved projects such as last year’s internship program, the Minnesota 60 lighting project and broadband.

The funds were designated for infrastructure, but some Nobles County communities have wanted to use their ARPA funds for other projects instead.

Sounds like they have some money left…

“After everything and (with) where we’re at, unused ARPA funds are now at $1,490,005.26,” noted Nobles County Administrator Bruce Heitkamp. “I get some phone calls (from people asking), ‘Can I use this for fire turnout gear? Can I use it to buy vehicles?’ I am telling them no and I’m not trying to play good cop, bad cop.”

“It was for infrastructure, it was not for pickups and firetrucks,” added Board Chairman Justin Ahlers.

Willmar City Council invests in marketing and engineering Connect Willmar Initiative

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West Central Tribune reports…

The Willmar City Council on Monday in split votes approved two proposals totaling up to $40,000 to assist the Broadband Committee and city staff in efforts to market and brand the Connect Willmar initiative.

The Connect Willmar initiative is an effort by the city of Willmar to install a citywide fiber optic broadband communications network throughout the city on which various internet service providers can provide their services to Willmar residents.

The city has partnered with Hometown Fiber to manage and maintain the network, and the marketing proposal in the amount of up to $30,000 was from Hometown Fiber, a Minnetonka-based broadband consultant. The marketing proposal passed in a split 7-1 vote, with Councilor Rick Fagerlie voting no.

The second proposal for branding the Connect Willmar initiative for $10,000 was from Replace, a Minneapolis firm which recently assisted the city of Willmar in its rebranding efforts. It was approved in a split 6-2 vote, with Fagerlie and Councilor Butterfield voting no.

West Central Tribune also reports…

Planning for the Connect Willmar initiative hit a bit of a snafu when it was discovered that contracted city engineer Bolton & Menk was working on the civil engineering portion of the project without formal authorization by the Willmar City Council. …

The City Council approved an agreement with Hometown Fiber at its Aug. 5 meeting to manage the network.

The council was also asked at that meeting to approve a service agreement with Bolton & Menk for the civil engineering services in an amount not to exceed $403,000.

However, after learning that Bolton & Menk had already started the civil engineering work without formal authorization, the council tabled that agreement until its next meeting — which took place Monday night.

The council on Monday approved paying for the portion of services already incurred in the amount of $155,068, but failed to approve the full service agreement. …

The council is expected to revisit the service agreement with Bolton & Menk at an upcoming meeting.

 

Willmar City Council votes to build open access fiber with Hometown Fiber

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The West Central Tribune reports…

The Willmar City Council marked an important milestone in the plan to build an open-access fiber broadband network in Willmar. The fiber use agreement between the city, which will own the network, and Hometown Fiber, which will manage it, was approved on a vote of 6-1 at the Aug. 5 council meeting.

“We’re not asking the council to approve a project tonight, we’re not asking you to call for bonding, we’re not asking you to request bids,” said City Operations Manager Kyle Box. “We are simply marking a major milestone, making the next step that we need to do to make this project feasible, and that is what this contract is.”

The only no vote was from Councilor Rick Fagerlie. Councilor Tom Butterfield was absent. Both in the past have shared concerns about what overall is estimated to be a $25 million project.

The approved agreement between the two parties lays out the use and management of the network, which will be built and owned by Willmar. Hometown Fiber will manage the system, which includes signing on internet service providers that will operate on the network and provide customers high-speed fiber internet.

Harris Pick Walz Just Signed Law Favorable to Muni Broadband

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Broadband Breakfast reports…

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, selected by Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate for the upcoming November election, took decisive action in May by signing a law that dismantled barriers to local government ownership of broadband networks in Minnesota.

By signing the bill, Walz ensured that local governments in his state can compete with Comcast and Mediacom for federal broadband grant money supplied by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program to connect unserved and underserved households.

This isn’t new news but interesting to see what folks are saying about the Minnesota-based VP choice!

Willmar City Council to look at finalizing plans with Hometown Fiber

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West Central Tribune reports…

After nearly a year and a half of working through the details and legalities, a use agreement between the city of Willmar and Hometown Fiber for a city-owned fiber network is ready for Council consideration.

In February 2023, the Willmar City Council first approved moving forward in drafting a contract with Hometown Fiber to construct a city-owned fiber network that would be the “best in the state.”

After many meetings and updates over the past year — and the due diligence of city staff and multiple consultants — that agreement is finally ready for Council consideration at its Monday, Aug. 5, meeting.

The meeting takes place at 6:30 p.m. in the boardroom at the Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services building, 2200 23rd Street Northeast.

Wright County points residents to Broadband Grant Challenge Portal

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For Wright County residents and beyond – as well as a potential idea for other communities…

Last year, the federal government announced that funds would be allocated to all states under the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Minnesota received an allocation of $651.84 million to bring broadband to unserved and underserved locations.

“Unserved” is defined as having broadband service (including wireline and licensed fixed wireless) with speeds of less than 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. “Underserved” is defined as having broadband service (including wireline and licensed fixed wireless) with speeds less than 100/20 Mbps, but above 25/3 Mbps. Locations that are deemed unserved or underserved are the only locations eligible to receive BEAD funding.

The reality is that many times generically listed internet speeds are often grossly inaccurate – a location is claimed to have a much higher speed than it actually does. As of yesterday (July 22), the State of Minnesota opened a Challenge Portal for residents to take a speed test from their home or business computer. The portal will remain open until Wednesday, Aug. 21.

Members of the public can’t submit challenges on their own. Each county needs to submit the challenge. The public is allowed to submit evidence that they can’t get service. How to submit data showing slow or no service can be found on the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Broadband Navigator Media Guide starting on Page 9 of the PDF. They can access DEED to take a speed test or submit problems with service.

This is important for everyone who lives in areas that are unserved or underserved because if data is incorrect, eligible areas will miss out on funding opportunities. It is essential that the public participate in the process to make sure the data is accurate and to maximize the opportunity for unserved and underserved communities in Wright County to access BEAD funding.

New MN Broadband/Telecom legislation could challenge larger companies

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Cord Cutter News reports…

Last week Minnesota eliminated two laws that protected Internet monopolies. In the past, the laws made it hard for local governments to build their own Internet system to challenge commercial companies like Comcast and Spectrum.

These changes also mean broadband is no longer regulated like a telephone service. Since the launch of broadband many states regulated it like a phone service. That is changing and new laws are being made that will allow them to be regulated on their own. This will help move broadband into its own area allowing for regulation specific for Internet without rules about phone service.

Hopefully this move will bring a growing number of competitive options for home Internet service to those living in Minnesota. Currently there are 650 public broadband services in the United States, according to the American Association for Public Broadband.

“We applaud the tireless work of advocates and Minnesota legislators who have successfully passed a bill removing restrictions on community broadband. This is a significant win for the people of Minnesota and highlights a positive trend—states are dropping misguided barriers to deploying public broadband as examples of successful community-owned networks proliferate across the country,” said Gigi Sohn, Executive Director of AAPB.

I have reported on this new law before, but I thought this spin was interesting.

Goodhue County Board of Commissioners find additional funding for broadband

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The Kenyon Leader reports…

The Goodhue County Board of Commissioners will have additional dollars to invest in an additional round of rural broadband projects after the largest project from the previous round of funding and several other pre-planned expenses came in significantly under budget.

Last fall, the board voted to allocate $277,733 in funding under the American Rescue Plan Act for a Nuvera Communications project to bring broadband to parts of Belle Creek, Cannon Falls, Leon and Vasa Townships, leaving approximately $200,000 in the coffers for future projects.

The Board had specifically hoped that this funding could help to support a potential broadband project which Hiawatha Broadband Communications had envisioned for the Wacouta area. However, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development decided not to move forward with supporting that project.

In addition to the $200,000 left on the bottom line, Finance Director Lucas Dahling said that an additional $63,077 in dedicated broadband funding is available, $12,000 after reconstruction of Goodhue County’s website redesign came as less expensive than anticipated and the remainder after Nuvera’s Vasa Township project came in under budget.

Questioned by Commissioner Brad Anderson, Dahling said that while the Board need not necessarily be in a hurry to spend that additional funding, it would make sense to move forward with another round of funding soon if funding rural broadband remains a Board priority.

“We don’t want to hold off on spending this money if we don’t need to,” he said. “My opinion is we have the funds available, this wasn’t levy dollars. If the Board wishes to continue supporting broadband projects, it would make sense to continue supporting those.”

Nearly $200,000 in additional ARPA contingency funds also appear to have become available after funding for the cost of hiring several employees, most notably the County’s Outreach and Communications Specialist, came in well under budget.

The cost of the Outreach and Communications Specialist position alone was overestimated by roughly $140,000, which Dahling attributed to an overestimation of the position’s salary and also to the decision to use levy dollars to fund half of the position.

While roughly half of those ARPA contingency dollars are set to be spent on improvements to the Goodhue County Government Center, the remaining total of roughly $200,000 could be coupled with dollars devoted to broadband for a round of over $450,000 in broadband aid.

Another take on MN Broadband laws that make municipal networks easier – from the local government perspective

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Broadband Breakfast reports…

Minnesota state lawmakers repealed two state laws on Wednesday, effectively removing barriers preventing cities and towns from providing municipal broadband services.

The legislative change reduces the number of states with laws preempting local governments from building their own broadband networks to 16. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 19 states held laws preventing community broadband networks.

The rollback of Minnesota’s preemption laws comes at a critical moment as states will soon begin to select grant recipients under a $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

The statute establishing the BEAD program mandated that states receiving these funds cannot exclude local governments from applying to use them for building public broadband networks. However, with 16 states maintaining these restrictive laws, the future impact of the legal barriers remains uncertain.

 

Another national look (Ars Technica) at new MN broadband laws

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Ars Technica reports…

Minnesota this week eliminated two laws that made it harder for cities and towns to build their own broadband networks. The state-imposed restrictions were repealed in an omnibus commerce policy bill signed on Tuesday by Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat.

Minnesota was previously one of about 20 states that imposed significant restrictions on municipal broadband. The number can differ depending on who’s counting because of disagreements over what counts as a significant restriction. But the list has gotten smaller in recent years because states including Arkansas, Colorado, and Washington repealed laws that hindered municipal broadband.

The Minnesota bill enacted this week struck down a requirement that municipal telecommunications networks be approved in an election with 65 percent of the vote. The law is over a century old, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Community Broadband Network Initiative wrote yesterday.

“Though intended to regulate telephone service, the way the law had been interpreted after the invention of the Internet was to lump broadband in with telephone service thereby imposing that super-majority threshold to the building of broadband networks,” the broadband advocacy group said.

The Minnesota omnibus bill also changed a law that let municipalities build broadband networks, but only if no private providers offer service or will offer service “in the reasonably foreseeable future.” That restriction had been in effect since at least the year 2000.

The caveat that prevented municipalities from competing against private providers was eliminated from the law when this week’s omnibus bill was passed. As a result, the law now lets cities and towns “improve, construct, extend, and maintain facilities for Internet access and other communications purposes” even if private ISPs already offer service.

MN changes laws that made municipal networks more difficult

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The Institue for Local Self Reliance...

Community broadband advocates have scored a major victory in Minnesota as state lawmakers there have repealed the state’s preemption laws that prevented cities and towns in the Land of 10,000 Lakes from providing municipal broadband services.

The new legislation, signed into law yesterday by Gov. Tim Walz, took aim at two statutes that sought to protect large monopoly telecommunications providers from competition.

New Law Unwinds Antiquated Statutes

One antiquated law that had been on the books for over a century (Minn. Stat. Ann. § 237.19) allowed municipalities in Minnesota to buy or construct “telephone exchanges” only if they secured a supermajority vote in a local referendum election. Though intended to regulate telephone service, the way the law had been interpreted after the invention of the Internet was to lump broadband in with telephone service thereby imposing that super-majority threshold to the building of broadband networks.

Another law (Minn. Stat. Ann. § 429.021(19)) gave municipalities the express authority to “improve, construct, extend, and maintain facilities for Internet access” but only if a private provider was not offering service in that municipality.

But this week, with a single omnibus bill (SF 4097), those old preemption laws were repealed by state legislators and signed into law by the Gov. Walz yesterday, officially paving the way for any municipality in the state to have the option of building networks to offer municipal broadband service or partner for the same.