What’s missing in Seattle: affordable universal broadband

[Commentary] One of the next topics for Seattle (WA) Mayor Ed Murray to address is whether taxpayers in Software City should support a new broadband network. Mayor Murray is giving earnest consideration to the perennial question of whether the city should build and operate a municipal network. A feasibility study is due later in May. If costs aren’t prohibitive, this might be an opportunity for Seattle to show leadership by creating a new public utility in the spirit of the Federal Communications Commission’s recent decision that classified broadband is an essential service. But any attempt to create the broadband equivalent of Seattle City Light should be planned from the start as a citywide service, providing the same quality to everyone in the jurisdiction.

What’s missing from the current menu of options -- and the discussion of broadband in general -- is universal service, ensuring that everyone has access to a service that’s now considered essential for work, education and entertainment. A city broadband network may be worthwhile if it offers something unique and of great public value. Leveling the playing field and providing top quality service to everyone would meet this criteria.