Open access municipal networks are an answer to the nation’s broadband problem

It is critical that the truth about open-access municipal broadband networks be told: They work; they are successful; they spur competition; they are closing the digital divide. They also are an irritant to big cable and its allies, whose henchmen have been busy at work in a well-financed lobbying campaign. Municipal fiber is hugely successful in Utah, even in his own district. In fact, Utah, one of the most politically conservative states in the nation, has more municipal broadband networks than elsewhere in the US. And we at UTOPIA Fiber, a municipal network owned by 11 cities, now provide fiber-to-the-home services in 17 cities and business services in 50, connecting communities to residential speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps), and 100 Gbps for business, both the fastest speeds currently offered in the United States. Though UTOPIA Fiber is publicly owned, it creates private-sector competition.

[Roger Timmerman has been executive director/CEO of the Utah Telecom Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) Fiber since 2016.]