About

The Inyo-Mono Broadband Consortium

The Inyo-Mono Broadband Consortium (IMBC) was formed in January 2016 with the goal of expanding broadband access and adoption throughout Inyo and Mono counties. The effort is a project of the Eastern Sierra Council of Governments (ESCOG) which is made up of Inyo County, Mono County, the City of Bishop, and Town of Mammoth Lakes. The IMBC was funded through January 2019 by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Account Program.

The Eastern Sierra Council of Governments (ESCOG) was awarded another CASF Consortia Account Grant for the IMBC on January 12, 2023.  The grant requirements for this iteration of the IMBC were to facilitate the deployment of broadband services in Inyo and Mono counties by assisting with project development, grant applications, and projects related to state broadband programs.  This grant funded the IMBC for three years, from February 1, 2023 through January 31, 2026.

The previous iteration of the IMBC was largely focused on broadband awareness and adoption and concluded in 2019. While broadband remained a priority for each of the agencies, the passing of SB 156 and AB 164, further renewed our commitment to support the necessary work to move our individual initiatives forward. CPUC Decision 22-05-029 presented a unique opportunity to restart the IMBC to focus on closing the broadband service gaps and resolving service connectivity challenges long-ago identified. This was accomplished by leveraging Consortia Account Grant funds to hire a Regional Broadband Coordinator who assisted with developing new broadband projects in the region.

More broadly, it was the intent of the IMBC to leverage the Consortia Account Grant funding along with Local Area Technical Assistance (LATA) and other infrastructure program funding to understand, design, and construct broadband projects. The Regional Broadband Coordinator worked with agencies to better understand broadband gaps, conceptualize new projects, and collaborate with interested providers to seek out grant funding to construct them. LATA funding covered the costs associated with developing detailed last-mile network infrastructure engineering for several project locations with the goal of “shovel-ready” project designs. The ultimate vision of the IMBC is to develop and implement strategies which deliver cost-effective, gigabit or better broadband connectivity to every household and business in the Eastern Sierra.

Funding for this project has been provided in full or in part through a grant by the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account of the California Advanced Services Fund, a program administered by the California Public Utilities Commission.