We look forward to seeing everyone on Monday in Dallas at CLIC's pre-conference event, “Making Local Internet Choice Happen in a Changing Environment: Opportunities and Challenges in 2017. We will focus on how to overcome barriers that impede the development of advanced communications networks. We will examine the impact of the new federal administration on local Internet choice, new state le…
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Why Rural Broadband Matters: Silicon Holler Rises Up from Old Coal Country
“Could a coal miner really code?” “Yes” was the answer from a small group of ambitious former coal miners who knew if their town did not diversify its economy, their only other choice was moving. “Hillbillies,” they answered, “can code!” According to a recent article in the Guardian, more than 600,000 U.S. tech jobs go unfilled every year, jobs that end up being shipped …
read moreNC Legislators Should Encourage, not Disconnect, Modern Rural Internet
Background: A tiny, rural town in North Carolina has gigabit internet from a community-owned fiber provider, Wilson Greenlight, and the big cable and telephone companies want it disconnected. Today a local newspaper printed an editorial from an industry front group (just like the one these monopolies used in 2010 and 2011). Titled “City-Owned Broadband Squeezes Taxpayers” the “American Tax…
read morePew Study Says 70% of Americans Support Municipal Broadband
“A majority of Americans across a wide range of demographic groups are in favor of local governments being able to build their own high-speed networks,” according to a new Pew study conducted between March 13-27, 2017. Seventy percent (70%) of the public believe "local governments should be able to build their own broadband networks if existing services in the area are either too expensive o…
read moreCLIC CEO Testifies on Capital Hill in Support of Broadband Opportunity for Localities and Public-Private Partnerships
On March 21, CLIC CEO Joanne Hovis testified before the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology in strong support of inclusion of broadband in federal infrastructure funding. Joanne also advocated for federal policy to support broadband public-private partnerships as a mechanism to enable and expand broadband deployment, particularly in rural areas. We have provided excerpts of h…
read moreCLIC Announces Strong Support for Two TN Bills to Remove Restrictions on Municipal and Co-operative Broadband Networks
On March 6, 2017, CLIC and 14 prominent public and private-sector companies and organizations announced strong support for two Tennessee bills, HB970 (SB1058) and HB1410 (SB1045) that will authorize municipal electric utilities and cooperatives to finally serve many currently unserved or underserved rural businesses and citizens. According to the CLIC letters of support, these bills will not onl…
read moreCLIC Members Get Discount Rate at Broadband Communities Summit in Dallas: May 1-4, 2017
Attention CLIC members! Broadband Communities is offering a significant registration discount for CLIC members who are attending the “Fiber: Get in the Game of Gigs” Summit in Dallas this year, scheduled for May1-4, 2017. Join us for CLIC's pre-conference event on May 1st, then stay a few more days for one of the most instructive and well-attended community broadband conferences in the count…
read moreMake America First in Broadband Again
On Monday, Adrianne Benton Furniss, Executive Director, the Benton Foundation (and a member of CLIC’s Board of Advisors) sent the following letter to President Trump, leaders in Congress, and at the FCC. The letter calls for federal leadership to create a Make America First in Broadband Again Plan, including by deregulating local broadband and respecting local internet choice. ------> …
read moreCLIC Organizes Opposition to Missouri’s SB186 As a Barrier to Local Net Choice
On January 23, 2017, CLIC and 14 prominent public and private-sector companies and associations opposed (again) a Missouri anti-community broadband bill, SB 186, that amounts to a virtual ban on local Internet choice. SB186 would impose additional restrictions on Missouri’s existing limitations on municipal provisioning of broadband service and would also impair the ability of localities to form…
read moreCLIC Organizes Letter Opposing Virginia HB 2108
On January 19, 2017, CLIC distributed a letter to Virginia lawmakers opposing House Bill (HB) 2108. The letter was co-signed by: Atlantic Engineering, Coalition for Local Internet Choice, CTC Energy & Technology, Fiber to the Home Council, Google, Indeed, Internet Association, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, Netflix, Next Century Cities, Nokia, OnTrac, Telec…
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