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This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by ILSR Communications Team Lead Sean Gonsalves to talk about the most recent Tribal Broadband Bootcamp, in Gila River. Tribal attendees from across North America came together – some experienced, and others tackling structural broadband inequities in their regions for the first time – came together to meet … Continue reading "Training to Build the Networks We Want at Broadband Bootcamps – Episode 537 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Rudolf van der Berg, Partner at Stratix Consulting, a Dutch consulting firm that does work in telecommunications and has been deeply involved in the historic level of new infrastructure deployment projects in northern Europe. Rudolf breaks down what’s going on today in Europe’s broadband landscape, including efforts … Continue reading "Market Dynamics, Regulations, and Historic Fiber Investments in Europe – Episode 536 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the show, the staff get together to bend their collective imaginations to what we expect to see as the biggest news stories of 2023. Returning to join Christopher are Sean Gonsalves, Christine Parker, Emma Gautier, and Ry Marcattilio to discuss the BEAD funding rollout, mapping, the current state of preemption laws, Starry, the … Continue reading "Predictions for 2023 – Episode 535 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by returning guest Blair Levin. Levin has served as former chief of staff to FCC Chair Reed Hundt as well as executive director of the National Broadband Plan (2009-2010). Nowadays, he’s a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, and joins Christopher to unpack all that we might expect to … Continue reading "What Can We Expect to See in 2023? – Episode 534 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher Mitchell join’s Drew Clark on Broadband.Money’s Ask Me Anything series, and in true fashion, he never ducks the hard questions. With audience questions, Drew and Christopher cover wide ground, including why the national broadband marketplace needs publicly owned infrastructure options, the benefits of open access models, how cities can … Continue reading "Christopher Mitchell’s Ask Me Anything – Episode 533 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

It’s December, which means it’s time to pull the staff together and get a handle on what happened in the broadband landscape in 2022. Joining Christopher is GIS and Data Visualization Specialist Christine Parker, Associate Researcher Emma Gautier, Outreach Team Lead DeAnne Cuellar, Senior Reporter and Communications Team Lead Sean Gonsalves, and Senior Researcher and … Continue reading "Year in Review 2022 – Episode 532 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Senior Reporter, Editor and Communications Team Lead Sean Gonsalves and GIS and Data Visualization Specialist Christine Parker to talk about how bad data can blind us and good data can drive positive policy solutions. First, they talk about a new guide developed by ILSR to help citizen-advocates, nonprofits, … Continue reading "Data-Driven Policy Solutions – Episode 531 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Tamarah Holmes, Director at the Office of Broadband at Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Virginia is ahead of the game compared to a lot of the states in terms of its planning and proactive work with providers to achieve universal access in historically unserved and underserved areas. Tamarah … Continue reading "A Layered Approach to Universal Access in Virginia – Episode 530 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, ILSR Senior Reporter and Editor Sean Gonsalves joins the show for another installment of Crazy Talk. Today’s topic is fiber, with the two breaking down a recent op-ed in The Hill by Technology Policy Institute President Scott Wallsten. Christopher and Sean inject a much-needed reality check, as well as some nuance, to Wallsten’s performative anxiety … Continue reading "Crazy Talk on Fiber Deployments – Episode 529 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Dustin Loup, Project Manager of the National Broadband Mapping Coalition, housed at the Marconi Society. Dustin joins us to talk about the new national Federal Communications Commission broadband maps, currently under construction and intended to replace the current and hopelessly broken one to prepare for tens of billion … Continue reading "Maps, Maps Everywhere – Episode 528 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at Public Knowledge. Feld is a staple of the field, and has been a consistent voice not only for consumers but broadband advocates of all types for more than two decades.  The show takes on a reflective nature, as they talk about theories … Continue reading "Hope and Change – Episode 527 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

In this episode of the podcast, Christopher is joined by William Sullivan, a resident of the city of Baltimore who works as part of the Digital Equity Leadership Lab. He shares his work in the city in recent years in getting students engaged in building digital skills and computer literacy. By pairing gaming with learning programs, Sullivan … Continue reading "Teaching Through Gaming in Baltimore – Episode 526 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Aaron Meyerson, former Deputy CTO for the city of New York. Christopher and Aaron dig into New York City’s Internet Master Plan, which launched in the spring of 2021 and gained steam before being put on hold by the Adam’s administration in January of 2022.  Aaron shares … Continue reading "Learning from New York City’s Master Internet Plan – Episode 525 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Ben Matranga, co-founder and managing partner of Connectivity Capital, and Jane Coffin, chief community officer at Connect Humanity. The conversation this week takes on a bit of international flavor as the three of them discuss a recent report “Financing Mechanisms for Locally Owned Internet Infrastructure,” authored collaboratively by … Continue reading "Financing Mechanisms and Governance Models – Episode 524 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Shayna Englin, Director of the Digital Equity Initiative at the California Community Foundation (CCF) to talk about a new report by CCF and its partners that reveals the systematic broadband cost inequities perpetuated in LA County by Charter Spectrum, the region’s monopoly provider. “Sounding the Alarm,” a pricing and policy impact study, shows not only that … Continue reading "Monopoly Pricing Disparities in LA County – Episode 523 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Jessica Engle, Director of Community Outreach at Althea to talk about the Affordable Connectivity Program, the $14-billion fund that provides a $30 monthly service benefit ($75 on Tribal lands) to help defray the cost of Internet access to qualifying families around the country. It’s a large and complicated program, and Jessica … Continue reading "Bottlenecks in the Affordable Connectivity Program – Episode 522 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Matthew Douglas, Broadband Manager at the Hoopa Valley Public Utility District. At the start of the pandemic, HVPUD launched a wireless network initiative using $2 million in CARES Act funds to benefit Tribal members who had poor or no connectivity options. Matthew shared the lessons they learned during the … Continue reading "A Tribal Wireless Network in Northern California – Episode 521 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Pamela Rosales (Training and Community Engagement Manager, National Digital Inclusion Alliance) and Davida Delmar (Digital Inclusion Manager, Amerind). Pamela and Davida talk about their digital inclusion work and how it differs across Tribal communities as compared to rural and urban areas. They also catch Christopher up on what’s … Continue reading "A Foundation for the Future of Digital Equity Work – Episode 520 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by ILSR colleagues Sean Gonsalves (Senior Editor and Communications Team Lead) and DeAnne Cuellar (Outreach Team Lead) for a roundup of recent news. They talk about the release of our new tracking and advocacy tool, the Affordable Connectivity Program dashboard, the pace and speed of the municipal broadband … Continue reading "Cities Doing Work – Episode 519 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by two people from Pharr, Texas (pop. 80,000), which has embarked on a citywide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network build that is seeing strong local support and fast progress in recent months. Jose Pena is the IT Director for the city, and and Guillermo Aguilar works as a Partner at … Continue reading "Building at the Speed of Light in Pharr, Texas – Episode 518 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"