As far as electric utilities go, Jefferson PUD is relatively young. That hasn't stopped them from taking some unique steps to bring broadband to rural and geographically challenging areas of Northwest Washington.

Despite rising labor and material costs, most co-ops report higher than expected take rates and a 9% internal rate of return, according to a recent report from NRTC and NRECA. Two of the report’s architects share more insights in this episode.

Even with the huge amount of funding coming in to expand broadband, Jordana Barton-Garcia says impoverished regions like tribal lands, the Mississippi Delta, the border region of Texas and central Appalachia could still be left on the wrong side of the digital divide if policymakers and ISPs don't focus on digital equity.

Paige Shapiro, Tennessee’s federal program officer for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and Digital Equity programs, discusses how these programs aim to ensure all people and communities have the skills, technology and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of the digital economy.

What You’ll Learn GUMBO is more than just the best new acronym in the industry. The program has catapulted Louisiana’s broadband office forward into a leading role across the country. Guest Speaker Thomas Tyler Show Notes Transcripts have been lightly…

In this episode, Mark Seale, executive director of the Texas Telephone Association, and Craig Cook, general manager at HCTC, discuss challenges that Texas is facing in deploying rural broadband and how they hope to overcome them.

John Twiest, CEO of Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, discussed a decade old partnership Arrowhead has with CTC to provide broadband in rural Minnesota.

Fred Johnson, CEO of Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, discusses how FTC expanded into surrounding cities to help fund the fiber build in its cooperative service area.

Before becoming Vice President of Government Solutions at LightBox, Bill Price headed up Georgia’s ambitious mapping program. He joins “Rural Broadband Today” to discuss the future of that program and broadband availability, accessibility and affordability.

In this episode, John points out several problems with providing broadband to rural communities, including obstacles and issues at the local, state and federal levels.