Access to affordable and reliable high-speed broadband is vital to a community’s economic development and competitiveness. Over the years, private sector investments have drastically expanded broadband access across the country, yet many communities remain underserved.
To fill the void, state and local governments, as well as rural electric cooperatives, have decided to develop their own networks, to enable middle- and last-mile connectivity — a task that has its own unique set of challenges and obstacles, including funding, planning, development, state preemption, and operations, to name a few.
