Earlier this month, Boulder took another promising step toward providing fast, reliable and affordable broadband internet to city residents.

At the City Council’s Nov. 21 meeting, council members voted unanimously to enter a 20-year partnership with the telecom company ALLO. Under the agreement, ALLO will lease the city’s newly completely broadband backbone to provide internet service to residents and businesses throughout the city.

As part of the agreement, ALLO will deliver broadband service with discounts for low-income homes, free service for certain nonprofit organizations and complimentary service upgrades for students. The company will also be required to maintain a brick-and-mortar store in Boulder that people can access via public transit.

Anyone who has had to deal with a private internet provider should be able to appreciate just how exciting this news is.

Generally speaking, internet service has gotten better in recent years. Reliability and speeds have increased — but so too have costs. And that’s without even wading into the headache of activating service or simply dealing with a private internet provider.

Community broadband, then, is an exciting prospect. Not only does it provide an alternative to the private companies that can often hold something like a monopoly over some service areas, but community broadband is also a big step toward acknowledging just how vital internet access has become to modern life.

In fact, at some point, it might be worth recognizing the internet as an essential utility.

For all its ubiquity, many might still chafe at the idea that the internet is an essential utility. After all, we don’t need it, exactly. At least not in the way we need water and electricity. But consider for a moment everything that fast, affordable and reliable internet does offer.

In addition to giving us access to social media and Netflix and all the other things that might give us the perception that the internet is simply a luxury, the internet is also where many, if not most, of us get our news. It’s where we access education. It’s where we apply for jobs, and it’s where many of us work. It’s how we stay in touch with friends and family. It’s how we access government services and vital safety net programs. It helps address the needs of those who are differently abled. It might even be how we control our thermostat or turn on the lights in our bedrooms. The list goes on and on.

In other words, the internet is a key component in our quest for equity. If internet access is necessary to hold down a job, everyone should have access to it.

Back in 2018, the city recognized this and set about investing in and constructing a municipally owned broadband backbone. The $20 million backbone was completed this year. And it will now be leased by ALLO.

As we’ve already noted, this deal is promising and a great alternative to the service Boulderites have access to today. Still, it is hard not to look to the north and feel a little wistful for an even more community-oriented option.

In 2014, Longmont began constructing its own fiber-optic broadband system, but instead of leasing it to a private company to offer service like Boulder is doing, the city created NextLight. Owned by Longmont Power and Communications, NextLight is a municipally owned internet service provider. The benefits of having a city-owned and operated internet service provider should be clear. In addition to occasionally being crowned the fastest ISP in the nation, NextLight is a public entity and thus is beholden to the community of Longmont.

Boulder opted against this route for a variety of reasons, primarily the cost and risk of being a service provider. Leasing the broadband backbone to ALLO will allow the city to collect an estimated $9 million in revenue.

Certainly, it seems easier for the city to follow this route. But a truly municipally owned internet provider would have been a real investment in the future — and it would have ensured that a service as essential as the internet would live up to our values as a community.

The deal with ALLO, though, is still better than what we have. Community broadband will be a big step up for many Boulderites. And with the city continuing to own the backbone, maybe in 20 years when ALLO’s lease expires, we will be prepared to follow in the footsteps of Longmont, as so many of our neighbors already are, and provide the municipal internet service our community deserves.

— Gary Garrison for the Editorial Board