Broadband World News - The Divide: How LUS Fiber makes the muni model work in Lafayette, Louisiana

SUBSCRIBE TO THE LIGHT READING BROADBAND WEEKLY NEWSLETTER


Digital Divide Smart Cities Satellite FTTX FWA

Digital Divide

The Divide: How LUS Fiber makes the muni model work in Lafayette, Louisiana Nicole Ferraro, Editor, Light Reading, 10/21/2021 Email This Print Comment Login 50% 50% This week on the podcast, we hear from Ryan Meche, director of LUS Fiber, a municipal fiber provider in Lafayette, Louisiana, which has been providing broadband service to the area since 2009. LUS Fiber emerged from Lafayette Utilities System (LUS), the city's provider of electric, water and wastewater for nearly 125 years. Despite pushback and a series of lawsuits brought by incumbent telcos, LUS Fiber now serves about 25,000 customers in the city of Lafayette. We discuss why the city chose a municipal broadband model, how it's funded and how it functions differently as a public utility than a private ISP. We also discuss how LUS Fiber is managing supply shortages, and the company's recent application for an NTIA grant which it hopes to use to expand north to Ville Platte, Louisiana, a community "with the fifth-slowest broadband in the nation," says Meche. Related episodes: The Divide: UTOPIA Fiber's Roger Timmerman on serving Utah with open access muni broadband The Divide: Rep. Drew Hansen on passing Washington's Public Broadband Act — Nicole Ferraro, contributing editor and host of "The Divide" and "What's the Story?" Light Reading comments		Latest Articles Playlist: 'The Divide' on the Light Reading Podcast Here's where you can find episode links for 'The Divide,' Light Reading's podcast series featuring conversations with broadband providers and policymakers working to close the digital divide. Cable Next-Gen Europe returns online As we have for the past two years, Light Reading will present our Cable Next-Gen Europe conference as a free digital symposium on June 21. Charter starts to book RDOF revenues Charter has sparked RDOF work in all 24 states where it won bids. The cable op booked about $19 million in RDOF revenues in Q1, and expects to have about $9 million per month come in over the next ten years. Cable Next-Gen event goes online again As we have for the past two years, Light Reading will stage the Cable Next-Gen Technologies & Strategies conference as a free digital event over two half-days in mid-March. AT&T lights up multi-gig fiber speeds in dozens of US markets Launch of 2-Gig and 5-Gig FTTP tiers in 70-plus markets puts more pressure on cable ops to enhance their existing DOCSIS 3.1 network or accelerate their upgrade activity centered on the new DOCSIS 4.0 specs. More Blogs Information Resources >> Is Network Security Keeping You Awake at Night? >> Does Your Fiber Plant Have What It Takes To Support 10G Services >> Customer Support Blueprint: Your Guide to Key Performance Indicators >> The Marketer and the Broadband Service Provider: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities >> eBook: Three Steps to Plan, Fund, and Design a Solid Broadband Network >> How regional ISPS are bridging the digital divide through innovation >> IPv4 Cost Estimator >> The Customer 360 Playbook >> Heavy Reading Whitepaper: Monetizing 5G with B2B2X >> Drive Down Costs, Drive New Services Forward: Discover the Freedom of Disaggregation in Your Network All resources