The Divide: How UniCity's public Wi-Fi partnerships help connect communities

Today's guest is John Putnam, director of UniCity at Cincinnati Bell, now known as Altafiber.

We discuss Altafiber's smart city division UniCity, how it got started and how it's now using public Wi-Fi to tackle the digital divide and digital equity issues in its service areas in Northern Kentucky, and Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio.

Here are a few topics discussed in this episode:

• Background on UniCity (0:50)
• Where and how UniCity is deploying public Wi-Fi (02:32)
• How UniCity provides digital training (05:26)
• Why communities are often "overwhelmed" by these projects (09:34)
• How UniCity is using smart city tech to address the digital divide and inequality (11:44)
• How Altafiber and UniCity are using and preparing for federal funds (16:55)

Related stories and links:

• City of Kettering, altafiber to provide Wi-Fi at public venues (press release)
• Cincinnati Bell announces new brand 'altafiber' (press release)

— Nicole Ferraro, site editor, Broadband World News; senior editor, global broadband coverage, Light Reading. Host of "The Divide" on the Light Reading Podcast.