Community Broadband Media Roundup - November 10, 2014

Several communities in Colorado are the community broadband champions of the week. Jon Brodkin covered the decision by voters in the state to consider building their own networks.  

Voters in five cities and three counties voted to restore local authority for municipal networks. It’s significant for several reasons, including the large margin by which the measures passed. 

The success of the measures in these communities can give other communities hope, writes Sean Buckley. 

“This is a big blow to the state's largest telcos and cable MSOs like CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), two of the largest opponents to the municipal broadband movement.”

FindLaw’s Technologist weighed in on the votes as well. Mark Wilson, Esq. analyzes some of the bogus reports that are frequently used by interest groups to discredit muni networks. 

“It's hard to imagine why you wouldn't want municipal broadband, but Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their lobby groups insist that public broadband and wireless networks are a waste of taxpayer money and are anti-competitive. That's according to a 2005 report from The New Millennium Research Council, a lobby group which was created by Issue Dynamics, a P.R. firm utilized by telephone and communications companies.”

Several news publications came out in favor of the measures days before the election. Erica Meltzer with the Daily Camera, Timothy E. Wirth and Ken Fellman of the Denver Post were among them, along with KUNC in Denver.

Stephanie Paige Ogburn continued the coverage after the election. 

Many Colorado towns have struggled to get affordable high-speed Internet, a service which has become a necessity almost akin to electricity or water, particularly for rural areas seeking to attract businesses in the service economy.

'There's so many stories of, I would love to move to Red Cliff, but you don't have a good internet connection. And so it is hampering our ability to grow as a town,' said Red Cliff mayor Scott Burgess, who is working to provide better broadband in his rural town."

Chris Welch of The Verge writes that the steps these communities made this week are not the end of the road.

“The successful vote doesn't require or guarantee the projects to get off the ground, but Colorado is sitting on "miles" of unused fiber, so the technology and resources are at least partially there.”

And Jason Meyers of Light Reading ties it all together:

"The Colorado developments are a win for proponents of municipal broadband, and for the overall development of Gigabit Cities, but the local measures in these communities are only the beginning. Now begins the task of evaluating business models for potentially building out fiber-to-the-home networks -- which could hinge on the facilities of municipal utilities, or involve public/private partnerships with commercial providers -- and the probable onslaught of responses from irate competitive providers."

In other words, here comes the fun part.

Other reporters were interested in what the Colorado votes could mean nationally. 

“'Cities and towns across the U.S. have already begun to make these changes and hundreds more are evaluating similar actions to provide better Internet service for their residents,' Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance Director Christopher Mitchell said.

Mitchell believes thousands of towns understand the goals, and while they are not yet committed to the push for faster Internet at affordable prices, they are thinking about joining the national effort."

Arielle Pardes of Vice took some time to chat with Chris this week about why her Internet is “so damn slow.”  

Robert Cooper wrote for US News this week, citing three ways the rules need to be changed, and unsurprisingly, he finds that the FCC’s role is crucial in promoting Net Neutrality, removing roadblocks to community networks, and stopping the mergers of mega telecom corporations. 

“The FCC finds itself in a rare position. Circumstances have placed before it the opportunity to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive as an engine for innovation and economic growth. To seize this opportunity, the commission need not impose a heavy-handed regulatory regime, nor become the 'Internet cop' that opponents of any action hyperbolically prognosticate. All it needs to do is exercise its authority in a smart and targeted way to ensure that content providers and consumers will be able to access one another without being subject to the unchecked whims of broadband ISP networks.”