Is Muni Broadband Feasible in Seattle? Not Likely, Report Finds

Half a billion dollars -- that’s about what it would take to build a municipal fiber network in Seattle (WA), and the other numbers aren’t very encouraging, either. The city announced on June 9 the findings of a broadband study conducted by CTC Technology & Energy -- findings that mean that where broadband is concerned, the city will look elsewhere, for now, said Chief Technology Officer Michael Mattmiller. The survey, which the city paid $180,000 to have completed, found that in addition to a $480 million to $665 million price tag for a fiber to the premises (FTTP) broadband buildout, the project’s fiscal sustainability would require a citywide take rate exceeding 40 percent at a monthly service fee of $75 -- an unlikely scenario given that even the nation’s most successful municipal providers, like Chattanooga (TN)’s EPB, achieve a broadband take rate of less than 35 percent.

The city’s broadband goal remains to provide the public with “equal, affordable and competitive broadband that approaches a gigabit standard,” Mattmiller said, but the findings of this report show that building a municipal network would put the city’s general fund at risk. “It presents too much risk to the city," he added, "but that said, we’re going to continue looking for other models and other state and federal funding opportunities, which could cause us to reconsider."