1. What can states do to promote rural broadband access?
Cat Blake, Policy and Program Manager

2. Proactive policies Dig Once Cuts costs Promotes competition
Minimizes disruption

3. Proactive policies One Touch Make Ready (“Climb Once”) Cuts costs
Promotes competition
Streamlines deployment timeline

4. Keeping all options on the table
Image courtesy of MuniNetworks.org

5. Success stories

6. Success stories

7. Success stories

8. Success stories

9. Preserve and promote local choice
Municipal broadband networks
Across the U.S., about 500 municipal networks connect communities that otherwise had been left behind
26 states have laws that roadblock or outright bar municipal networks

10. Preserve and promote local choice
Cooperatives
Across the U.S., over 100 cooperatives connect communities to gigabit broadband
Electric and telephone cooperatives were built to serve rural communities that weren’t invested in by commercial providers

11. Preserve and promote local choice
Small cells & 5G
5G is only realistic in select markets
Local leaders are widely supportive of 5G investment
Collaboration between municipalities and vendors will help ensure smooth and equitable deployment
There are 22 state laws - and an additional 5 that are pending - that strip local control over small cell deployment

12. Supportive state actions
Grant and loan programs (that are supportive of local solutions)
Mapping and data collection
Coordination and collaboration with municipal and federal efforts
Include broadband access in other state-level conversations, such as economic development, education, and healthcare

13. Federal policies Infrastructure bill Broadening eligible service areas
Creating carve-outs for areas served by a provider that has received federal funds in the past
Mapping

14. Cat Blake, Policy and Program Manager
nextcenturycities.org