ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at rural broadband initiatives in Colorado and Maine. Colorado channels broadband funding through multiple sources that complement each other, each targeting a different type of grantee and a different use. Maine has a smaller program and budget than Colorado, and has identified a variety of innovative ways in which they can support rural broadband initiatives. Colorado’s support of individual middle-mile fiber projects can address rural connectivity concerns like outages, service capacity, and deployment costs. Maine’s communities are banding together in regional initiatives to overcome capacity constraints, explore both traditional and innovative partnerships and ownership models, and ease the path toward state funding. Each state broadband program supports different approaches to rural connectivity, including public-private partnerships, publicly owned broadband networks, and electric cooperatives. The chapter also identifies some of the regulatory barriers that can lock communities out of state funding and favor private interests.
