Colorado Municipalities to Vote on Fiber Network Expansion
Two Colorado municipalities vote Tuesday whether to expand their fiber networks to reach more residents. In 2005, the Legislature adopted Senate Bill 05-152 to limit local governments from providing advanced Internet, telecom and cable-TV services for their communities unless the municipalities can get enough votes through a referendum. Centennial and Longmont began ballot initiatives to expand their existing fiber networks. Nineteen states have put up barriers to discourage local governments from creating networks, Chris Mitchell, telecom director at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, told us. “Colorado’s law is not as draconian as Texas or California, but industry is still fighting to limit municipalities.”
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Centennial started installing a 42-mile conduit fiber network in 2008 as part of the city’s public works transportation and street light optimization program, said the city in a fact sheet (http://bit.ly/19VseAD). More than 80 percent of Centennial’s businesses are within a half-mile of the city-owned fiber line, as are more than half of residences, said the fact sheet. It said the ballot question is asking for the restoration of the city’s ability use the fiber network in partnership with the private sector.
If the ballot measure is approved, it would please both the industry and the local government of Centennial, South Metro Denver Chamber CEO John Brackney, a city resident, told us. “The industry put some qualifications into the agreement that the network will not include last-mile connections.” The buildout of the network will probably involve a public-private partnership because the city contracts out of most its services, said Brackney. “We want to bend the cost curve in businesses, and we are always looking to get higher speeds for businesses,” he said. Since the South Metro Denver Chamber supports the telco providers in addition to small businesses, it has not taken an official issue stance on the ballot question, but “I voted for it,” said Brackney of his mail-in ballot.
Longmont’s initial network was built 15 years ago, and it has already seen two referendums on the ballot since 2009, said Mitchell. “Longmont built a fiber ring around the city for electrical stations for its power networks, but the first attempt to give the city access to the network did not work in 2009,” said Mitchell. “In 2011, people overwhelming voted yes for the city to get the authority.” The ballot referendum this year focuses on a bond to build out the network to everyone in the city, said Mitchell. If the referendum doesn’t pass, the network will still be built with revenue from the current network, but it “will take multiple decades to reach everyone,” said Mitchell.
Longmont Power & Communications would build out the network to residents and businesses with a $44 million bond if the referendum passes in 3 1/2 years, Vince Jordan, the company’s broadband services manager, told us. “We provide our residents and businesses with a cheaper, faster and more reliable product,” said Jordan. “The residential community is certainly interested in getting our services.” The Longmont fiber network is now available only to customers in close proximity to the fiber infrastructure or those willing to pay for their own installation cost, said city-owned Longmont Power & Communications in informational materials (http://bit.ly/17ZWYNO). Since 2011, the city has increased the capacity of the network to data speeds of up to 1 Gbps, and free Wi-Fi is available in public places, parks and events, said the company. Those opposed to the network might be satisfied with the current quality and costs of services provided by the ILECs or they might think municipalities have an unfair competitive advantage, said the company.
In some legislative battles, telcos have argued that municipalities shouldn’t be able to create broadband networks with taxpayer dollars, said Mitchell. “Most of these projects are funded by private investors through revenue bonds,” he said. “The companies are out of touch with reality, and their talking points create a false environment.” Comcast and CenturyLink, which both advocated for the legislation, didn’t comment. Municipalities lack the legal capability to fight these battles against telcos with their limited resources, said Mitchell. “These companies have more of an opportunity to spread their arguments than municipalities.” (sfriedman@warren-news.com)