What Happened to Seattle's Gigabit Network?

For the citizens of Seattle, the dream of ubiquitous high-speed Internet has died what many hope will be a temporary death.

The city’s deal with Gigabit Squared fell apart and one of the company’s founders has stepped down, leaving the city with $52,000 of the company’s debt. Meanwhile, remaining telecommunications companies struggle to provide service to the city thanks to a seemingly arbitrary right-of-way rule. So what happened with the seemingly great partnership between the city of Seattle, the University of Washington and Gigabit Squared? The city of Seattle means well, Robert Kangas, leader of Upping Technology for Underserved Neighborhoods (UPTUN), a technology advocacy group in Seattle, said, but it doesn't always do what’s best for broadband adoption in the city. Some of its rules are holding back build-outs that could have already been finished months ago, he said, adding that Gigabit Squared was not a wise investment.

The city went all-in with Gigabit Squared, forging new partnerships and granting the company access to its unused or “dark” fiber network that would have facilitated connectivity in some parts of the city. But there were already Internet companies before Gigabit Squared, or at least one company, in the city that had the means and desire to expand broadband for residents. CenturyLink has been asking the city for the last two years for permission to expand its fiber network in the city, but the city has a right-of-way rule, designed to prevent urban clutter, that has made it practically impossible for them to do so.