Municipal Broadband Advocates Score Victory in Colo. Town

Fort Collins joins Kansas City and Chattanooga. 

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

This is your first of three free stories this month. Become a free or sustaining member to read unlimited articles, webinars and ebooks.

Become A Member

Less than a month after the FCC voted to repeal the nation’s net neutrality rules, the City Council in Fort Collins, Colorado, has decided to move ahead with a municipal broadband network. Their 7-0 vote Tuesday built on a ballot resolution passed in November, and will not impose any data caps or usage limits, Ars Technica reports.

“The network will deliver a ‘net-neutral’ competitive unfettered data offering,” a planning document states. “All application providers (data, voice, video, cloud services) are equally able to provide their services, and consumers’ access to advanced data opens up the marketplace.”

Council also approved the use of $1.8 million from the city’s general fund to finance the system’s rollout, the Coloradoan reports. The money is slated to be repaid with an estimated $132 million bond issue in the spring.

According to Ars Technica, a telecom industry-led campaign against the municipal system spent more than $900,000, with most of those funds supplied by the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association (of which Comcast is a member). The pro-municipal broadband effort, meanwhile, spent just $15,000. In November, nearly 60 percent of voters approved the ballot measure that allowed the municipal system to move forward, pending council approval.

As Next City has covered, municipal broadband efforts are often contested by big telecom companies and hampered by state laws, but several cities have managed to beat the odds. Kansas City’s Google Fiber network was often lauded as an early success — though expansion of that system ground to a halt in 2017. Chattanooga, Tennessee, was another early adopter of the city-as-internet service provider model.

Like what you’re reading? Get a browser notification whenever we post a new story. You’re signed-up for browser notifications of new stories. No longer want to be notified? Unsubscribe.

Rachel Dovey is an award-winning freelance writer and former USC Annenberg fellow living at the northern tip of California’s Bay Area. She writes about infrastructure, water and climate change and has been published by Bust, Wired, Paste, SF Weekly, the East Bay Express and the North Bay Bohemian

Follow Rachel .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Tags: internet access

×
Next City App Never Miss A StoryDownload our app ×
×

You've reached your monthly limit of three free stories.

This is not a paywall. Become a free or sustaining member to continue reading.

  • Read unlimited stories each month
  • Our email newsletter
  • Webinars and ebooks in one click
  • Our Solutions of the Year magazine
  • Support solutions journalism and preserve access to all readers who work to liberate cities

Join 1099 other sustainers such as:

  • Gabby at $5/Month
  • Abigail at $10/Month
  • Gloria at $5/Month

Already a member? Log in here. U.S. donations are tax-deductible minus the value of thank-you gifts. Questions? Learn more about our membership options.

or pay by credit card:

All members are automatically signed-up to our email newsletter. You can unsubscribe with one-click at any time.

  • Donate $20 or $5/Month

    20th Anniversary Solutions of the Year magazine

has donated ! Thank you 🎉
Donate
×