Officials Ramp Up Rural Broadband
POWELL, Wyo. — Hay and beans have fueled this rural economy for years. But it's fiber of another kind that city leaders believe is key to Powell's future.
Plans are underway to build a fiber optic network capable of delivering ultrafast Internet, cable TV and telephone service to virtually every household and business in this community of about 5,300 people.
The goal of the $6-million project is to create another selling point for a community where quality-of-life issues -- good schools and safe streets -- are no longer enough of a draw for businesses to come to a place where the nearest major city -- Billings, Mont. -- is 100 miles away.
"As a city administrator, I hear the term 'economic development' thrown around," said Zane Logan, the leading voice behind CityNet, which is opposed by local phone carrier Qwest Communications and cable provider Bresnan Communications. "I can't think of anything more economic-develop- ment-minded than a fiber optic network."
Powell is part of a growing phenomenon, fueled by dissatisfaction in sparsely populated areas where the local phone and cable providers are slower to invest in costly network upgrades that may not be profitable.
At least 40 municipalities and public utility districts around the nation already offer so-called fiber to the home, according to market researcher Michael Render.
These fiber networks are more robust and costlier to build than the municipal wireless networks proposed in hundreds of cities, often sparking similar controversy.
The rise of community-backed projects has sparked debate about whether it's proper for government to compete with private enterprise and whether broadband technology is a luxury or a virtual necessity that cities should provide as they do water or garbage service.
"Is it a commodity where you pay for what you use and leave it to the private sector? Or is it a utility, as important to today's lifestyle as water and electricity?" asked John Anderson, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has studied and written about the debate.
"A lot of communities feel it's in their interest to step in and offer it," he said.
That was the case in Windom, Minn. Before the city announced plans to build its fiber network, Internet options were limited to frustratingly slow dial-up or finding a wireless hot spot 20 miles away, said Dan Olsen, operations manager with WindomNet, the farming community's telecommunications office.
