Reports

Broadband ISPs should be held to a higher public interest standard and regulated like traditional utilities in California, a new joint study by nonprofit state policy news outlet Cal Matters and UC Berkeley’s Possibility Lab argues. State governments should also vocally support community broadband networks as a direct challenge to monopoly power, the authors state.

Fifteen years ago, Western Massachusetts residents in the small hill towns were stuck on aging broadband infrastructure. While their neighbors in the eastern part of the state were seeing new investment and expanding coverage, they were not. But instead of giving a handout to the regional monopoly, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. The result? Between 2018 and 2022, 19 very small towns in Western Massachusetts built fiber-to-the-home (ftth) networks and transformed their telecommunications future forever.

A new report from Pew Research Center provides a review of available federal sources of broadband data and gaps and issues with those data. Within the report, Pew also examines the implications of these gaps on public policy and offers potential solutions to address them.

A new report out from Vanderbilt University's Policy Accelerator re-emphasizes some of the important steps federal government agencies could take to make sure that upcoming Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding is used as efficiently and equitably as possible.

A new report published today by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) reveals how the sovereignty of Tribal Nations and their own efforts to solve connectivity challenges on Tribal lands can be undermined by the poor design and maze of bureaucracy associated with some federal broadband programs. Even as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration takes over administration of the largest federal funding programs and re-situates Tribal closer to where they belong, the FCC continues its long-standing practice of scant engagement and infrequent consultation, complicating the terrain and stymieing Tribal efforts to close the digital divide in Indian Country.

In partnership with the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, today ILSR releases a new report examining how the state of Vermont is supercharging its telecommunications infrastructure efforts to reach the unconnected by investing in community broadband-driven efforts. Today, there are ten CUDs covering 216 towns across the state, and Vermont’s leaders have put the lion’s share of public funds behind the communications union district model.

In a new report, published in partnership with the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative (SRBWI), the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks Initiative examines the link between high-speed Internet infrastructure, access to healthcare, and the economic implications involved. It shows the even small communities that commit to universal, affordable, reliable service can avoid millions in healthcare costs, recouping financing in short order and leading to healthier populations.