There’s a reason that big telecoms like Comcast and Verizon are working tirelessly with their buddy Ajit Pai to infringe upon state and municipal rights regarding broadband services and net neutrality rules. Most communities want an open internet and there are very few communities not fed up with monopolistic broadband marketplaces. Fort Collins, Colorado had a decision to make on a ballot measure last night. And Fort Collins’s residents voted to authorize their city to build a broadband network. This means actual competition for whichever telecom runs the show there now.
Fort Collins voters said "yes" to a ballot question that gives the city council permission "to establish a telecommunications utility to provide broadband services," The Coloradoan wrote. "Unofficial, partial returns as of 12:42 a.m. showed the measure passing with 57.15 percent of the vote."
The vote doesn't require the city to build a broadband network, but it gives the city council the permission it needs to move forward on the plan if it chooses to do so.
As Arstechnica explains, the big telecom campaign against this ballot measure was filled with all of the factual information of a Donald Trump speech.
The anti-municipal broadband campaign had funded ads warning that a publicly funded network in Fort Collins would take money away from other infrastructure initiatives. The network would be funded by bonds, and supporters say it will be self-sustainable because of subscriber fees.
The Coloradoan editorial board urged voters to approve the ballot question but said that the city council should back out of the project if it turns out to be too expensive. The newspaper's editorial board later accused the anti-municipal broadband campaign of taking its editorial out of context in a campaign mailer.
The Coloradoan reports that with this vote in hand, city officials plan to take the next steps in a couple of weeks when sessions resume.
Mayor Wade Troxell said he was not surprised the question passed, although he was surprised by the level of opposition to the proposal.
“I was very encouraged with the passage today, and particularly with the headwinds of incumbents trying to misinform the electorate,” he said. “And also, I was very disappointed in the (Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce) playing an active role in misinformation.
“I think there is some accountability that has to come out post-election.”
It is not surprising to many of us that follow big business in general, and big telecoms in particular. They are the emperor with no clothes on. The moment someone pops the collective bullshit bubble that their version of a monopoly keeps quality up and costs down—something that has never happened in the history of things happening—the jig is up. It’s not unlike health insurance. Once people have it and realize how clearly essential having affordable health care and affordable communications access is, they realize what a detrimental scam an unregulated system is.