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Press Release: Colorado communities overwhelming reclaim local authority, reject telecom monopolies via ballot initiatives

Date: November 8, 2017

Colorado Voters Once Again Reject Monopolies in Internet Service at the Ballot Box

All 18 voting communities opt out of restrictive state law, Fort Collins ensures municipal utility can provide broadband service

Contact:

​Christopher Mitchell

christopher@ilsr.org

612-545-5185​

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. -- Voters across the state of Colorado have, once again, rejected big telecom by opting out of a restrictive state law. SB 152, which limits the ability of Coloradoans to explore high-speed municipal broadband has been in place since 2005, thanks to big telecom’s political heft.

As of Wednesday morning, we are prepared to announce that all 18 communities, plus Fort Collins have passed their measures by an average margin of 82.72%, and we are confirming and monitoring these results.

“We have seen overwhelming support for local Internet choice in Colorado” says Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “These cities and counties recognize that they cannot count on Comcast and CenturyLink alone to meet local needs, which is why you see overwhelming support even in an off-year election.”

The 18 communities who voted to opt out of SB 152 join approximately 100 other Colorado communities that have, over the past few years, asserted their own local authority over Internet service. Now these communities have the option to improve their Internet service, allowing for a crucial economic development activity. (See our detailed map below, available for republication with attribution - just email stumolanger@ilsr.org)

Press Release: Colorado Communities Set to Reclaim Local Authority via Broadband Ballot Referenda, Rebuff Internet Access Monopolies

Date: November 6th, 2017

Colorado Communities Set to Reclaim Local Authority, Rebuff Internet Access Monopolies

18 communities across the state will vote to join nearly 100 of their fellows in investigating Internet infrastructure investments

Contact:

​Christopher Mitchell, christopher@ilsr.org

612-545-5185​

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN -- Tomorrow, 18 communities across Colorado will be voting to reclaim their local authority to end broadband monopolies. Since 2008, nearly 100 communities across Colorado have opted out of a restrictive state law (SB 152) which limits the ability of Coloradans to explore high-speed municipal broadband. This year is no different.

We at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance have a full list of those voting on the opt out measures. Additionally Fort Collins, who opted out of SB 152 in the fall of 2015, has a ballot referendum to establish a municipal utility that offers high-speed Internet service. We’ll be following that closely as well.

“These ballot initiatives are a crucial step toward better Internet access throughout Colorado,” says Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “Local governments are smart to reclaim the authority they need to ensure local businesses and residents aren’t stuck with cable monopolies.”

StateScoop Covers Verizon's Attempt to Preempt State Internet Privacy Laws

StateScoop - October 31, 2017

Verizon asks FCC to preempt states on Internet privacy

Written by Colin Wood

Verizon is at it again, not just in unsubscribing rural users, but in undermining the Internet privacy protections that states passed in the wake of Congress' repeal of the regulations that kept telecommunications giants from selling your data to advertisers.

StateScoop's Colin Wood reached out to Christopher Mitchell to discuss this trend and the power of monopoly corporations in our economy.

Here are Christopher's contributions:

The FCC may have preemption authority over states on some issues, but this isn't one of them, Rinehart said.

Federal authority notwithstanding, the creation of a patchwork of internet privacy laws could create a more complex landscape for policy and enforcement. If privacy laws vary depending on the user's exact location, it would require the collection of geolocation data, which can be spoofed and is not always accurate.

Verizon borrows language from federal code to underscore its argument, saying that its request is one that serves “to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the internet.”

And while Rinehart conceded that there is something to Verizon's claim of a potential patchwork of state and local privacy regulations, others say this is simply a case of the states taking back the protections they were owed from the start.

Big telecom companies have ignored "overwhelming demand" for privacy protections for consumers for years, Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, told StateScoop in an email.

San Francisco & Seattle Consider Investment in Municipal Gigabit, Telecompetitor Covers

Telecompetitor - October 20, 2017

Municipal Gigabit 2.0? San Francisco, Seattle Consider Increased City Investment

Written by Joan Engebretson

Two giant west coast cities, San Francisco and Seattle, are seriously considering more investment in Internet connectivity investment. Joan Engebretson of Telecompetitor covers this interest by positing these investments as the next step in real municipal investment for gigabit service.

Christopher Mitchell contributed to her coverage:

Could this be Municipal Gigabit 2.0? Two West coast cities, San Francisco and Seattle, are exploring new models for bringing ubiquitous gigabit to their constituents – models that would entail a higher level of city investment.

Big city gigabit rollouts to date have been achieved largely through private investment. But that could be changing now that gigabit pioneer Google Fiber has scaled back its deployment plans and cities have begun to question whether they can improve on the $70 a month or higher price that commercial network operators typically charge for gigabit service.

Google and other network operators began deploying gigabit services when cities began relaxing permitting procedures and, importantly, eliminating or relaxing requirements for networks to be deployed citywide. Cities now seem to be questioning the wisdom of allowing operators to cherry pick the neighborhoods in which they deploy gigabit services. And the revelation that Google may not roll out gigabit throughout Kansas City as originally planned could drive cities to rethink those policies.

Michigan Radio Gains National Context for Anti-Municipal Broadband Bill From Christopher Mitchell

Michigan Radio - October 17, 2017

Bill would bar Michigan communities from using public money for internet infrastructure

Written by Virginia Gordan

Freshman Michigan state representative Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton) introduced a bill that would essentially block any investment into communities wanting to better their Internet connectivity. With this off-season state legislative activity, Michigan Radio reporter Virginia Gordan reached out to gain Christopher Mitchell's national perspective on how these restrictive state bills end up.

Christopher's contributions are below:

Critics of the bill say it would harm Michigan communities with inadequate internet access and hurt their economic development.

According to Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative with the Institute of Local Self Reliance, the bill would leave the businesses in underserved communities less competitive, hurt their children's education, and result in declining property values.

Mitchell said the bill is about private providers' fear of broadband competition and of local communities' providing faster and more reliable service at the same or lower prices.

"If they face any competition, then they're either going to have to lose those customers or invest significantly to keep them. So the big companies want to prevent that," said Mitchell. "The other concern, even in areas where they don't have customers, is the threat of a good example."

Hoitenga said she expects the bill to be substantially amended after hearings take place next week before the House Communications and Technology Committee, which she chairs. She said her goal is to improve internet access throughout Michigan, and she introduced this bill to spark a conversation.

...

Motherboard Covers Verizon Kicking Off Rural Subscribers, Quotes Christopher

Motherboard Vice - September 19, 2017

Verizon Abandoning 8,500 Rural Customers Is Proof That Wireless Is Not Broadband

Written by Kaleigh Rogers

As we've covered on the site, Verizon Wireless is discontinuing rural subscriber accounts in 13 states. Motherboard Vice's Kaleigh Rogers reached out to Christopher Mitchell to discuss what this means for mobile broadband access dockets up in front of the FCC and how rural subscribers will fall through the cracks.

His contributions are below:

The issue is that, in many rural and remote communities, Verizon had partnered with smaller, local carriers. Verizon would lease spectrum rights to the regional partners, which would let Verizon customers use those local networks for free if they were outside of Verizon's range (they might have Verizon coverage at work but not at home, for example). But Verizon had to pay roaming fees for this deal, and seems to have miscalculated how expensive those fees would be, particularly with the popularity of unlimited data plans.

"In a lot of these places, people are on Verizon because they don't have any other options," said Christopher Mitchell, director of community broadband networks for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit that advocates for local solutions for sustainable development. "They probably want to have a good, fixed access like cable or fiber. So when Verizon kicks them off, they have nowhere else to go. They were already on their last resort."

StateScoop Speaks to Christopher Mitchell on Industry Study Showing Positive Broadband Trends

StateScoop - September 6, 2017

Broadband is getting faster and more available -- but is it enough?

Written by Colin Wood

USTelecom released an industry-funded report showing trends in expansion of broadband access. StateScoop’s Colin Wood reached out to Community Broadband Networks initiative director Christopher Mitchell to discuss what this actually means for the millions with a reliable Internet connection or those residents in monopoly service territory.

Christopher’s contributions are here:

USTA shows that 65 percent of households had access to at least two service providers in 2016, but about a quarter of those included in that metric are being measured at the FCC’s rural broadband definition of 10 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload speed. This means the actual figure of those with the ability to choose between broadband providers — using the modern definition of broadband — includes less than half of all households in the country.

It’s obvious that there’s a shortage of market competition, said Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

“It looks to me like companies that have done too little investment are trying to justify that,” Mitchell said. “The FCC’s numbers, these numbers, they all show most people don’t have a lot of choices.”

The data collected by the FCC used in the report is collected at the census block level, Mitchell said. This means, for example, that a resident who lives near a hospital that has access to broadband but doesn’t necessarily have access himself would be statistically misrepresented as having access. This means the figures presented in the research are maximum values — the actual number of people who have access to these choices is lower.