On December 9, our Executive Director Gigi Sohn sat down with Light Reading's Nicole Ferraro to discuss the rise of public broadband networks, ongoing hurdles to the model, recent public broadband successes – and more.
At a Glance
Growth of public networks in recent years and why Sohn says there's still 'fear and hesitation' around launching them (05:25)
Her response to a recent report criticizing public broadband (12:08)
Top success stories from this year and AAPB's plans to further support communities pursuing public broadband in 2025 (20:57)
According to data from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), there are now more than 400 public broadband networks in the US, serving over 700 communities.
Moreover, several (but not all) communities have prevailed in recent years at changing existing state laws preventing the launch of public broadband networks, including most recently Colorado and Minnesota. That leaves 16 states with legal roadblocks still in place, according to Community Networks.
That's a fair amount of progress ... but there's more work to do to address the "fear and hesitation" that's stopping some communities from pursuing the public model, says Gigi Sohn.
Sohn, who took on the role of executive director for the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) in 2023, says she is seeing growing interest in public broadband networks. But several factors are still stunting growth, including some communities taking a "wait and see" approach as it pertains to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. In other words, some communities that may be interested in pursuing public broadband want to see if BEAD solves their problems first. But Sohn says this is unlikely, given BEAD's primary focus on unserved communities.
Once it becomes clear that BEAD dollars won't solve the connectivity needs of many suburban and urban areas, "I think you're going to see more communities moving forward" with public broadband, said Sohn.
Listen to The Divide podcast here.