Loveland officials discuss firing up municipal broadband

The Loveland city council and city staff members at their retreat on Saturday brought up the idea of proving municipal broadband service for residents and business, the Reporter-Herald reports.

The city would still have to iron out many issues, such as whether to provide the service itself or contract with a third party through a public-private partnership. The city’s voters would also have to approve any such move thanks to a 2005 law that prevents Colorado municipalities from providing such service without first going to voters.

Loveland is following in the footsteps of cities in the region like Longmont, Fort Collins and Boulder already either implementing or exploring municipal broadband. Longmont is in the middle of building out a 1-gigabit network to every home and business in town, a process expected to be complete by 2017. Boulder voters, meanwhile, gave city officials the go-ahead in November to launch municipal broadband, though the city is still in the exploratory phase. And Fort Collins officials also announced last year that they plan to explore their options.

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