26 Colorado Communities Will Vote on Building Their Own Internet Networks

On, November 8, 26 separate Colorado communities will vote on whether their local governments should build high speed fiber Internet networks to compete with or replace big telecommunication Internet service providers. So-called municipal fiber ballot initiatives have become an annual tradition in Colorado, as roughly 100 communities have voted on measures that provide legal cover to governments who want to build new networks. The initiatives are required under a SB152, a law enacted in 2008 after several lobbying efforts by CenturyLink made it illegal for municipalities to provide fiber Internet to private premises without first obtaining permission in a ballot measure. In 2015, a record 47 communities passed similar referenda; no communities voted it down.

Not every city is going to become its own Internet service provider—the law requires cities to hold referenda even if they plan on partnering with companies on public-private fiber network initiatives. “The law uses broad definitions for what cities can and cannot do,” said Christopher Mitchell, director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative. “We only know of two that have failed in the last six years,” he added. “Many of these networks are tremendously successful.” Colorado is the only state in the country that has a ballot measure requirement for locally run networks; 22 other states have different laws that restrict local broadband efforts. With so many cities overwhelmingly voting in favor of local government-run broadband, Mitchell says that Colorado’s law hasn’t quite had the effect CenturyLink would have liked.