Broadband could be bond-financed, run by nonprofits, result from public-private partnerships or compel big ISPs to offer better services in rural areas
WASHINGTON – On Nov. 3, voters went to the polls across the country to weigh-in on numerous races and ballot measures. In consideration across 46 municipalities in Colorado was whether to allow local governments to set up publicly owned broadband networks.
In the 27 towns, 14 counties and two school districts involved, voters overwhelmingly approved the referendums; in Durango, population 16,000, 90% of voters approved the measure.
According to broadband analyst Craig Settles, who covered the results at length in his online radio show, the outcome will be a boon to small and rural communities, which have traditionally been underserved or overcharged by incumbent broadband providers.
In Colorado, state law actually prohibits the building of community broadband based on legislation approved in 2005; the workaround is if a referendum is held within a local municipality to build such a network.
Settles told RCR Wireless News,“The stated reason for this is that local government shouldn’t compete with business; the real reason is to prevent any competition.”
According to Settles, now that the municipalities have approved the measure, government leaders have a number of options. They can pass bond measures to finance community broadband systems, they can allow the establishment of nonprofit broadband cooperatives, they can enter into a public-private partnership with a local ISP to offer low-cost service, or they can use the threat of potential competition to compel big ISP’s to bring the cost of service down and invest more heavily in broadband infrastructure.
Providing broadband connection to rural areas has been a major priority for the Federal Communications Commission, which recently awarded $1.5 billion to a number of communications service providers through its Universal Service Fund for just that purpose.
Ken Fellman, general counsel with the Colorado Communications and Utility Alliance, noted the ballot measures in Colorado were necessary because, “It’s not that we want to compete with the private sector. It’s that the private sector isn’t providing the level of service the community needs.”
