On Tuesday, Fort Collins residents decided to join other Coloradoans in pursuing the possibilities of creating their own broadband network. High-speed internet is not a luxury in this day and age: it’s an essential part of how the world communicates. Big telecom companies have had a hard time convincing the majority of people to believe that their monopolistic and duopolistic control over the broadband market is beneficial. Mostly because it’s not. Whenever municipalities attempt to create their own broadband, they are either very successful or they are fighting lawsuits from telecom giants. But Colorado does not seem to be fazed, as the Denver Post explains: Tuesday’s vote tallied 19 new municipalities on the list of places tired of big telecom’s stranglehold.
According to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which has tracked broadband votes for years, the 19 cities and counties join about 100 others in the state that previously opted out of Senate Bill 152. That bill, passed in 2005, restricts local governments from using taxpayer dollars to build their own broadband networks.
“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,” Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said in a statement.
Senate Bill 152 was a big telecom attempt to force their monopoly into state law. But it allowed for communities to opt-out—and they have been opting out ever since. Of course, this movement, especially in an “off-year” election and coupled with the Republican control over the FCC, has led big telecom companies to begin pushing against state’s rights in the hopes of structuring their monopolies on the federal level.
As with health care and with tax cuts for the rich at the expense of everyone else, Americans want affordable and good and competitive broadband options. The Republican Party has, now more than ever before, stripped away any veil that might have once hid how plutocratic their policies are.
According to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which tracks broadband developments nationwide, voters in the 19 Colorado cities and counties said yes to municipal broadband by a high margin — at an average yes rate of 83 percent. The institute also estimates that out of Colorado’s more than 270 cities, about 185 have not opted out. However, since 30 counties have opted out, the cities may not need to, said Nick Stumo-Langer, who is with the institute.
It’s time for big corporation heads to downsize their lifestyles.
