15 Years Later: North Carolina’s Municipal Broadband Ban

An hour outside the state capital, with one-tenth the population, Wilson, North Carolina, is known for the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, vinegary barbecue, and excellent, affordable internet service. In the early 2000s, the leaders of Wilson understood something important—that to succeed in the 21st century, its citizens would need affordable, reliable internet and the skills to use it. City leaders approached the incumbent internet service providers and asked them to upgrade their services, but the talks were unsuccessful. In fact, as reported by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, former Mayor Bruce Rose recalled that Time Warner Cable (TWC) “laughed in their faces” when the city offered to build the network so TWC could manage it. After a proposed partnership with Embarq (now CenturyLink) also fell through, Wilson decided to forge ahead on its own. Inspired by a growing movement around the country, leaders decided to launch Greenlight Community Broadband. The city financed construction using $29 million in certificates of participation and completed the network in January 2009, on budget and ahead of schedule. In 2006, the North Carolina General Assembly passed the Video Service Competition Act. Heavily promoted by cable companies, the Video Service Competition Act gave the state of North Carolina exclusive franchising authority for cable systems, revoking that authority from cities and counties. Proponents said the bill would “level the playing field” and attract more competition than the previous system, which required cable companies to negotiate city by city, town by town.