Expanding Municipal Telecommunications Systems

The U.S. has fallen behind other countries both in the percentage of our population that has access to high-speed Internet connections, and in what we consider “high speed.” The Federal Communications Commission defines “high speed” as 200 kbps or faster, which is adequate only for basic email and text web pages. Almost all homes and businesses in Japan and South Korea have access to connections that are literally thousands of times faster.

Realizing that broadband is to this century what electricity and phones were to the last, many municipalities are building their own telecommunications systems just as they once provided their own electricity infrastructure. The vast majority of public electrical utilities in the U.S. are located in cities with fewer than 10,000 residents, and some serve just hundreds of homes. These municipal utilities are in a unique position to provide these services, whether by laying fiber optic networks can be laid over their existing infrastructure, using emerging broadband over power line (BPL) technology, or building wireless networks.

Private cable TV and telephone companies are lobbying state legislatures to eliminate this source of competition. Fourteen states either ban or restrict municipal telecommunications utilities. Most recently, Nebraska, the only state in which all electric utilities are publicly owned, passed a law preventing municipal governments from ever offering broadband services, and prohibiting public power companies from entering the market until 2008. On the other end of the spectrum is Maine, which enacted legislation to encourage and support municipal provision of Internet services.

(The American Public Power Association maintains a list of State Barriers to Community Broadband Services. )

Despite these efforts, municipal Internet service is thriving in some communities. For example, in May 1999, after three years of lobbying by the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga and the Tennessee Municipal Power Association, the Tennessee State Legislature reversed Tennessee's ban, allowing public utilities to provide cable television, Internet and telephone services. (See below for the amended law.) Now Chattanooga’s MetroNet, operated by the Electric Power Board, makes it one of only a few mid-sized cities with very high-speed digital data transfer as part of its municipal telecommunications infrastructure.

Chaska, Minnesota’s municipally owned and managed wireless network went live in November 2004. The city invested about $800,000 in the wireless network, which covers all 15 square miles of the suburban-fringe community. It offers a high-speed Internet connection for just $17 per month for homes, and starting at $25 per month for businesses. More than 20 percent of the city's residents are subscribers. In an interview with The Future of Wireless, Chaska’s Information Services manager advises other cities, “Do not underestimate the amount of customers you will have.”

In addition to broadening access, competition from municipal telecommunications providers has been shown to lower consumer rates. For instance, Chattanooga, TN and Glasgow, KY are both served by a private cable company, Comcast. But Glasgow's public power company began cable TV service ten years ago. As a result, Comcast's rates in Glasgow are 1/3 less than rates in Chattanooga.

RULES (more recent additions at top):

• Loma Linda, CA, Fiber Network Building Code - Any new building (or substantial re-model) must be built ready to interface with the existing fiber network.  
• Chattanooga, Tennessee - City Council Resolution approving municipal internet service
• Maine - Legislation endorsing municipal telecommunications ownership and directing the state to conduct supporting research
• Fredericton, New Brunswick - "Smart City" Initiative - Free wireless throughout the city, and an Internet Co-op that buys fiber optic Internet access wholesale and resells it to local businesses at a significant cost savings.
• Utah Open Telecommunications Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA)
• Corpus Christi, Texas Citywide Wireless
• Nebraska Public Broadband Ballot Initiative

For more information: 

• Freepress’s Community Internet section chronicles pending legislation and up-to-date news stories on municipal broadband.
• The American Public Power Association’s Community Broadband section includes an overview of the issue, Community Broadband: Separating Fact from Fiction, January 2004.
• The Baller Herbst Law Group is the leading legal representative of municipal utilities. Their Library contains testimony, briefs and a number of excellent articles, including The Case for Municipal Broadband Networks: Stronger than Ever
• The newly revamped MuniWireless.com has sections on Wireless Initiatives, Applications, and Technology.
• Declaration of Digital Democracy - by the Center for Digital Democracy
• Want to know who controls your local media? Use the Center for Public Integrity Media Ownership Database to research who owns what in radio, TV, cable, and telephone across the U.S.
• Well Connected - Center for Public Integrity's excellent report and news library on telecommunications consolidation and democracy
• The American Public Power Association, the service organization for the nation's municipal electric utilities, has a nice section on Community Owned Broadband Initiatives