Newsmakers Aug. 22-Sept. 4: More cities eye broadband bandwagon

Local governments in 2014 stepped up their interest in creating municipal broadband Internet networks that they believe are critical to their communities’ economic health.

Longmont began buildout of its fiber-based broadband network that will offer 1-gigabit upload and download speeds to every home and business in town. Fort Collins and Boulder both began their explorations into doing the same.

In addition to providing service they don’t believe traditional Internet service providers like Comcast and CenturyLink will provide the majority of their residents for several years, the moves by the cities could help spur competition.

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A BizWest analysis in August found that Comcast offered lower prices for its fastest tier of Internet service in cities around the nation where it competes against municipal broadband networks than it does locally.

Detractors of municipal broadband say launching such a network in hopes of disrupting the market is a gamble given the risks involved for local taxpayers if the new utility doesn’t end up supporting itself. But the cities believe they can bring both faster speeds and lower prices – and do it faster than the ISPs would.

Comcast and CenturyLink officials said they’re largely taking a market demand approach to adding 1-gigabit service in older areas while making an effort to build it in from the start in newer developments. That left too much gray area for Longmont.

“If Comcast and CenturyLink were going to build a network like this here in the city, we wouldn’t have done it,” Roiniotis said.

UPDATE

The first Longmont residents were able to begin buying Internet service from the city in early November for a charter member rate of $50 per month for the 1-gig service. The rollout will be phased over the next two to three years, with the entire city to have access to the network by 2017.

In Boulder, meanwhile, voters in November voted overwhelmingly to approve a measure that allows the city to provide high-speed broadband service to residents and businesses. The vote is expected to start the process of exploring the benefits and costs involved in doing such a network.

Fort Collins, meanwhile, is expected to do such studies over the coming year before holding a similar vote.

Those initial votes are similar to the one Longmont held in 2011 that led to that city’s move toward its own municipal broadband utility.