Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

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With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

Image

With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

Image

With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

Image

With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

Image

With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

Image

With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

Image

With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

Image

With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Some of the nation’s leading thinkers and doers in the community broadband sector will connect and collaborate in the nation’s capital for the inaugural Community First: The Future of Public Broadband Conference and Hill Day next week.

Slated for May 14 and 15, the two-day conference is being hosted by the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and New America Open Technology Institute (OTI), in partnership with ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Community Broadband Action Network.

The in-person gathering will bring together public broadband champions, community leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to focus on strategy and advocacy in the face of potentially dramatic changes to the $42.5 billion BEAD program – the single-largest federal investment to ensure every household in the nation has access to high speed Internet connectivity.

Registration and tickets are still available here.

Image

With the rise of community-owned broadband networks and cooperatives now flourishing across the nation, organizers are hoping to create “an essential space to share best practices, discuss financing, shape public policy, and support the development and expansion of public broadband networks.”

Legislation that would require ISPs operating in Massachusetts to offer qualifying low-income households high-speed Internet service for $15 per month is set to have its first legislative hearing.

The hearing is slated to run from 11 am to 1 pm ET today before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy. Committee members will hear testimony on multiple bills, including two companion pieces of legislation known as An Act Preserving Broadband Service for Low-income Consumers – S.2318 (filed by State Sen. Pavel Payano) and H.3527 (filed by State Rep. Rita Mendes).

The proceedings can be viewed here.

Inspired by New York Law

The hearing in Massachusetts comes as similar legislation is being considered by state lawmakers in Vermont and California – all three of which are modeled on New York’s Affordable Broadband Act which, after numerous legal challenges, went into effect in the Empire State in January of this year after the US Supreme Court declined to intervene and overturn a U.S. Appellate Court ruling that upheld the law.

Like the New York law, the bill being proposed in Massachusetts requires ISPs operating in Massachusetts to offer qualifying low-income households high-speed Internet service for $15 per month.

However, the Massachusetts bill set the minimum speed at 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) download to mirror the increased FCC definition for minimum broadband speeds that had been raised from the previous benchmark of 25/3 Mbps, which was the federal standard when the New York law was written.