More than 200 guests and speakers from 30 states and Canada attended the Cooperative Broadband Coalition’s second annual Connected Oklahoma – Rural Broadband Summit in Oklahoma City on October 8-9, 2024. The CBC brought together rural network operators, public officials, tribal nations, speakers and vendors to discuss opportunities to better serve broadband in rural areas.
The Oklahoma Broadband Office Executive Director Mike Sanders attended and was among the prestigious group of speakers. “Nineteen out of every 20 unserved and underserved homes in Oklahoma are outside of Oklahoma City and Tulsa,” Sanders said. “Without the hard work of organizations in this room, serving rural Oklahoma would not get done.”
The Oklahoma Broadband Office administers federal grant programs to ensure reliable and affordable, high-speed internet is available to all Oklahomans.
“To date, the governing board has awarded half a billion dollars to service providers to perform the work,” Sanders said. “We have over $750 million dollars that will go out next year.”
In addition to Mike Sanders, attendees heard from Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association; Gigi Sohn, Executive Director of the American Association of Public Broadband; Sarah Bleau, Director of the Middle Mile Program for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; Christopher Ali, Professor of Telecommunications at Penn State; and many others.
Directors of the Arkansas, Virginia, New Mexico and Kansas broadband offices provided updates on how their states are deploying Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding. Some topics discussed included: smart grids and broadband, the Universal Service Fund, middle mile, rural innovation and interagency mapping coordination.
The CBC unites 11 electric cooperatives with fiber subsidiaries in the state of Oklahoma. Collectively, these cooperatives have built more than 22,000 miles of fiber and serve 300,000 Oklahomans in rural areas. This is a significant achievement and investment in the quality of life for rural Oklahoma and the state’s economy. Visit cooperativebroadband.coop for more information.