CLIC has reprinted this interview with permission of the Pew Charitable Trusts Last updated October 15, 2021 The pandemic accelerated the momentum for getting every American access to affordable, reliable broadband. It also elevated the role that states and localities should play in bridging the digital divide—the gap between those with access to high-speed internet and those without …
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CLIC President, Jim Baller, Testifies Before Missouri House of Representatives: Why it is Time to Remove Barriers to Local Internet Choice
On September 16, 2021, Jim Baller, CLIC President, testified before the Missouri House of Representatives. He was invited to address two questions: (1) What are other states doing about barriers to municipal, cooperative, and public-private broadband initiatives? and (2) What is the federal government doing to accelerate the deployment, adoption, and use of advanced communications networks a…
Local Internet Choice Wins in Ohio: Budget Language Removed That Would Have Terminated the State’s Community Broadband Initiatives
CLIC congratulates the communities and companies of the state of Ohio for blocking passage of a barrier to broadband opportunity and competition. In early June, language was surreptitiously inserted into Senate amendments to a state budget bill that would have prohibited existing and future community broadband initiatives in the state, including public-private partnerships. CLIC joined a …
CLIC & 19 Private-Sector Companies & Associations Oppose Ohio Senate Budget Amendments Aimed at Stopping Local Internet Choice
On June 15, 2021, the Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) and 19 private-sector companies and associations submitted a strongly worded letter to the members of the House, Senate and Governor of Ohio, vigorously opposing a Senate amendment to House Budget Bill 110 that would effectively kill community-led local internet choice. Apparently dropped into Senate amendments to a House Omnibu…
Broadband Public/Private Partnerships Are Working in North Carolina
Clic Guest Blog by Kathy Scheller, Director, Government Relations, MetroNet As the fastest growing 100% fiber company in the nation, MetroNet continues to prove that collaboration is the key to successful fiber optic deployment in over 100 communities across 9 states. Most recently, the cities of Fayetteville and Greenville, North Carolina announced MetroNet’s intention to construc…
read moreCLIC Endorses federal Community Broadband Act (HR 1631)
The Coalition for Local Internet Choice endorses H.R. 1631, the “Community Broadband Act of 2021,” which Reps. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Jered Golden (D-Maine), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), introduced on March 8, 2021. This legislation will remove state roadblocks to community broadband initiatives and public-private broadband partnerships while at the same time safeguarding i…
read moreEnjoy listening to CLIC’s Supersession #3: Broadband Partnerships and Federal and State Incentives: A Force Multiplier
The third conversation in CLIC’s 2020 Broadband Supersession series deals with “Broadband Partnerships and Federal and State Incentives: A Force Multiplier.” As COVID continues, we seek advice on how local communities have been working with private partners and maximizing sometimes scarce resources by combining funds at the federal, state and local levels to deploy critical broadband servic…
read moreArkansas State Legislature Significantly Expands Local Broadband Options
by Jim Baller, CLIC President
As the Arkansas General Assembly recently found in enacting SB74, “without access to voice, data, broadband, video, and wireless telecommunications services, citizens of Arkansas also lack access to healthcare services, education services, and other essential services; and that this act is immediately necessary to allow government entities to provide high qu…
Start 2021 by Listening to CLIC’s Broadband Partnership Conversation #2: Identifying and Selecting Your Broadband Partner
The second conversation in CLIC’s Broadband supersession series deals with “Identifying and Selecting Your Broadband Partner.” As COVID continues to disrupt school and work, local communities are stepping up to catalyze the deployment of this critical infrastructure, often with private partners. To learn how other communities are approaching this task, we invite you to watch, or simply list…
Start 2021 by Listening to CLIC’s Broadband Partnership Conversations
As COVID continues to disrupt school and work, and as a new Congress and president take office, we expect the country’s broadband gaps to receive heightened attention—and funding.
Local communities will continue to play a critical role in infrastructure deployment, often with private partners. With this in mind, we are devoting our next three blog posts to issues related to i…