FairlawnGig Fiber Boosts Regional Economy

In 2015, aware that business tenants increasingly depended on high-quality broadband and that residents considered fast broadband a quality-of-life issue, Fairlawn (OH) resolved to make gigabit broadband available to all homes and businesses. The city built a municipal fiber network essentially as an amenity, with no requirement that service revenue cover the cost of the build. It was willing to subsidize the network out of the general fund if necessary. Its goal was to boost property values and local businesses by inducing people to “eat, live and stay here in Fairlawn,” according to Ernie Staten, Fairlawn’s deputy service director. Three years after the network launch, the gamble appears to have paid off handsomely. The network, called FairlawnGig, quickly gained popularity because of its reliability, speed – now up to 2.5 Gbps for small and midsized businesses and 100 Gbps for enterprise customers – and meticulous attention to customer service. With a residential take rate higher than 50 percent, FairlawnGig is financially stable; service revenues are now sufficient to cover the operating budget and soon will begin to pay down the debt.