Boulder To Light Up Fiber Optic Network

Boulder (CO) has hired Maryland consultant CTC Technology and Energy to explore the feasibility of municipal broadband, and to weigh community demand for other, smaller-scale Internet service enhancements. The city is home to a 100-mile high-speed fiber optic network that has long gone unused, but last November more than 83 percent of voters supported a ballot measure that gave the city authority to provide its own broadband service to the public, or to partner with private companies to expand access to the city network. That enabled the city to move forward with free public Wi-Fi in the downtown Civic area, but that is just one of many Internet-related projects Boulder can explore.

Members of the City Council have indicated they aren't interested in starting up a fully city-operated broadband utility as Longmont (CO) has. But there could be great potential to make use of all that fiber mileage in the local business community, Boulder Information Technology Director Don Ingle said. At two community meetings, CTC and the city will solicit feedback on the network's potential in the private sector and beyond.