Search our curated library of expert resources, including funding guides, policy analysis, how-to's, and more.
This paper highlights key aspects needed for a national infrastructure plan: improvement to the digital infrastructure for the economic benefits and an increase in private-sector investment in nationwide deployment of future-proof, fixed broadband networks. The author recommends policy measures achieve those goals, such as direct funding support, changes to the tax code, and actions to enhance the productivity of capital expenditures.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that fiber is the best option for last-mile infrastructure, contrasting it with coaxial cable and wireless last-mile infrastructure. It explains concepts like bandwidth, latency, channel capacity, and noise.
This resource describes a high-level approach to adapting a governance process to support identified broadband needs and produce the greatest community value. The paper presents a governance framework in which stakeholder drivers and needs and the process of organizing for service contribute to value creation.
This resource provides tools and guidelines that libraries can use to evaluate their current and future needs and to find broadband services that fit their budgets and goals. Using this report, a library or library system will be able to specify needs such as bandwidth, quality of service, and network type.
This resource was written to help local and state governments adopt best practices for preventing significant communications infrastructure failures and stopping or mitigating intrusions, hacking, and other disruptions of communications networks. The document includes high-level introductory information and links to useful background resources, as well as detailed technical descriptions of best practices.
This report examines the problem of access to high-speed internet and explores models of emerging public-private partnerships that can help solve the gaps in access. It makes a strong case that North Carolina must change its policy approaches to better encourage these partnerships, which are needed if major parts of the state are not going to be left behind economically.
This resource presents the case for dig once policies, identifies three general approaches to dig once, and presents a set of recommendations for localities when developing a dig once ordinance or policy.
This paper describes the commonalities among many of the best state rural broadband funding programs and recommends best practices. The paper also explores the planning and design phases, and the program execution, monitoring, and adjustment phases.
A white paper that provides data and analysis of the broadband availability gap across Iowa. The authors argue that broadband infrastructure is crucial for economic growth and competitiveness amongst Iowa businesses and communities and that communities lacking access to adequate broadband will struggle economically and be left behind socially.
This document from the City of Huntsville, Alabama lays out a pole attachment agreement between the Huntsville Utilities Electric Board and Google Fiber, Inc. to install aerial cables in Huntsville.
This blog from CENIC explores wireless technologies that could be used by anchor institutions to extend their connectivity. Technologies include Wi-Fi mesh, television white space, Educational Broadband Service, and Citizens Broadband Radio Service.
This resource from May 2021 discusses President Joe Biden's appointment of Vice President Harris to lead the broadband component of his infrastructure plan. The article acknowledges the two core issues that must be resolved for the broadband bill to pass: prioritizing expenditures for unserved areas and moving beyond temporary solutions to address the adoption problem for low-income families.
This resource explains the four primary pieces of broadband policy in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and how they can help move America toward its long-held goals of universal broadband access and adoption. Firstly, the largest part of the IIJA's $65 billion is a $42.5 billion appropriation to fund network deployment. Second, the IIJA includes a subsidy for low-income Americans to connect to broadband. Third, the Senate orders the FCC to come up with a plan to reform universal service. Finally, the fourth component provides a surge of funding to address digital training and literacy.
This resource explores the challenges service providers face as more households transition to fiber, primarily the shortage of skilled workers like network planners and network ops technicians, and argues the communications industry faces a major shortage of manpower. It offers the solution of cloud-based subscriber insight and management tools to simplify and automate the fiber activation process.
This resource argues that submarine cable networks can help address the challenges and opportunities in providing robust broadband in the Caribbean and that intergovernmental cooperation and leadership are key to delivering sustainable telecommunications infrastructure. It frames submarine cables as one of the most environmentally friendly platforms to deliver sustainable growth and development.
The Resource Library is a curated collection of expert broadband resources, including funding guides, policy analyses, how-tos, and more. Every resource has been verified by the CTC Energy & Technology team, drawing on their more than forty years of expertise. The library is continuously updated as new resources are submitted for review. Search the resource library to find analysis, explainers, and case studies to answer your broadband questions.