Community broadband scores win against 'smug' Illinois incumbents

Kendall County (IL) wanted to deliver a better broadband experience to its residents. So, it reached out to the local incumbent providers which reacted with smugness and arrogance. The county was so put off by the incumbents that it instead pursued a public-private broadband partnership. Many of the county’s residents have been dissatisfied with their selection of broadband providers, which include AT&T, Comcast and Metronet. So, the county decided to put out a request for proposal (RFP) for a private company to bring some broadband competition to the area. Via the RFP process, the county selected Pivot-Tech in August 2023 to build a fiber network. The first order of business for Pivot-Tech was to decide how to finance the new network. The company set up a non-profit organization as the project company, which in turn offers a tax-free revenue bond. Funding through a tax-free revenue bond not only thwarts objections from incumbent providers, it also has other benefits for the community. The non-profit can use excess profits to either expand the network or return profits to subscribers to offset their bills.