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Colorado city moves ahead with municipal broadband after beating telecom lobby

Jon Brodkin Ars Technica
Wed, 03 Jan 2018 17:22 UTC

Still from an industry-funded ad warning against municipal broadband in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The city council in Fort Collins, Colorado, last night voted to move ahead with a municipal fiber broadband network providing gigabit speeds, two months after the cable industry failed to stop the project.

Last night's city council vote came after residents of Fort Collins approved a ballot question that authorized the city to build a broadband network. The ballot question, passed in November, didn't guarantee that the network would be built because city council approval was still required, but that hurdle is now cleared. Residents approved the ballot question despite an anti-municipal broadband lobbying campaign backed by groups funded by Comcast and CenturyLink.

The Fort Collins City Council voted 7-0 to approve the broadband-related measures, a city government spokesperson confirmed to Ars today.

"Last night's three unanimous votes begin the process of building our city's own broadband network," Glen Akins, a resident who helped lead the pro-municipal broadband campaign, told Ars today. "We're extremely pleased the entire city council voted to support the network after the voters' hard fought election victory late last year. The municipal broadband network will make Fort Collins an even more incredible place to live."

Net neutrality and privacy
While the Federal Communications Commission has voted to eliminate the nation's net neutrality rules, the municipal broadband network will be neutral and without data caps.

"The network will deliver a 'net-neutral' competitive unfettered data offering that does not impose caps or usage limits on one use of data over another (i.e., does not limit streaming or charge rates based on type of use)," a new planning document says. "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."

The city will also be developing policies to protect consumers' privacy. FCC privacy rules that would have protected all Americans were eliminated by the Republican-controlled Congress last year.

The items approved last night (detailed here and here) provide a $1.8 million loan from the city's general fund to the electric utility for first-year start-up costs related to building telecommunications facilities and services. Later, bonds will be "issued to support the total broadband build out," the measure says.

The city intends to provide gigabit service for $70 a month or less and a cheaper Internet tier. Underground wiring for improved reliability and "universal coverage" are two of the key goals listed in the measure.

Building a citywide network is a lengthy process-the city says its goal is to be done in "less than five years."

Telecom lobby failure
The telecom industry-led campaign against the project spent more than $900,000, most of which was supplied by the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association. Comcast is a member of that lobby group.

Fort Collins Mayor Wade Troxell criticized incumbent ISPs and the local Chamber of Commerce for spreading "misinformation" to voters, The Coloradoan reported at the time.

The pro-municipal broadband effort led by community members won despite spending just $15,000. More than 57 percent of voters approved the measure.

"We're incredibly excited about the voting results from last night," Colin Garfield, who led the residents' pro-broadband effort, told Ars today. "The tireless work our committee performed and the voice of the voters have been rewarded."


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The new self-reliance: Ignored by Big Telecom, Detroit's marginalized communities are building their own internet