Municipal Broadband and Innovative Financing Models:

Join the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) and Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative on February 20, 2025, from noon to 1 pm ET for an hour-long deep dive into the financing of publicly-owned, locally-controlled broadband networks. Registration is open now above.

A growing number of communities are supercharging their local economy by building publicly-owned telecommunication infrastructure instead of relying on the expensive, spotty access offered by the regional monopoly or duopoly incumbent(s). Most of the communities who have joined the expanding public broadband sector were able to finance network construction and operations with little or no federal funds. 

This free webinar will primarily focus on how municipal broadband networks can be financed in the context of a now uncertain BEAD program. It will also briefly touch on the cost of doing nothing. 

Co-hosted by AAPB Executive Director Gigi Sohn and Sean Gonsalves from ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative, the discussion will feature officials and municipal finance experts who have built public broadband networks and have successfully navigated the maze of municipal finance – both from the municipal and private sector side.

Panelists for the discussion will be: 

• Ernie Staten, City of Fairlawn’s Public Service Department Director

• F.X. Flinn, ECFiber Governing Board Chair

• Laura Lewis, Principal and Co-Owner of LRB Public Finance Advisors

• Eric Rex, Vice President at KeyBanc Capital Markets