Hotchkiss to Set Opt-Out Vote: Old Senate Bill 05-152 Adds Roadblock to New Internet Service -DMEA Considering Last Mile Fiber-optic-Into-Home Service

Hotchkiss to Set Opt-Out Vote: Old Senate Bill 05-152 Adds Roadblock to New Internet Service

DMEA Considering Last Mile Fiber-optic-Into-Home Service  

Free Library Wi-Fi is Breaking State Law

By Thomas Wills

The Town Council of Hotchkiss at their August voted unanimously to move ahead in joining in a coordinated election regarding Senate Bill 05-152, which, in 2005, added a section to State Revised Statutes “Competition in Utility and Entertainment Services” that requires municipalities that wish to provide, or partner in the provision of, cable television, telecommunications and advance services to first hold an election to approve the provision of (or partnering to provide) such services by local government.  This applies to broadband Internet service, something that is key at the moment. The Town of Paonia is also considering making a similar decision by the end of the month (August). The ballot title needs to be submitted by early September for the November mail-in election.

Intertwining with the SB 05-152 issue there was also the issue of DMEA now considering the possibility of going into the last mile, as well as middle mile, internet service provision and is asking all municipalities within its service area to pass a supportive resolution that supports certain future conditions including that easements be provided at no cost and that the Town help with marketing such service. The latter may be a problem since, besides requiring vote for any sort of government/private partnership, which DMEA’s proposal will require a degree of, SB 05-152 states:

“A local government shall not make or grant any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to itself or to any private provider or cable television services, telecommunications services or advanced services.”  In other words if the Town helped DMEA with marketing it would have to provide equal help all competing providers within the Town, which currently includes TDS and satellite service.  The proposed opt-out vote, if successful, would not change this part of the law. The TDS representatives present at the Hotchkiss meeting tentatively agreed that a Town resolution leaving out the marketing provision would be acceptable.

The Hotchkiss Town attorney will provide a draft resolution supporting the DMEA resolution indicating their willingness to move towards provision of last mile services that would include extending fiber optic cable into local homes. It would then be up the consumer to decide whether or not to hook up to the DMEA broadband, or stay with their current provider: TDS, Skynet, etc.  The biggest difference is that the new service would be a minimum 25 MB (per second) on the download side as compared to current speeds of 1 to 5 MB on DSL service, sometimes varying wildly depending upon time of day. The cost would be “affordable” the DMEA representatives said, meaning enhanced service at about the current pricing or less. There is no committed timeline for this to happen but it could be done within a decade or less. DMEA has a backbone of fiber-optic cable in place in the North Fork and their service region and they have a stake, along with their power provider Tri-State, in a larger fiber optic “pipe” cable runs to a main POP (point of provision) site at Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“This is a lot like (DMEA) back in 1938,” one DMEA representative, comparing the building of enhanced internet to the initial provision of universal electricity to rural homes.  The new DMEA proposal is a huge leap from their previous position.

Originally, DMEA was only discussing making their middle mile fiber optic cable from their headquarters to substation near the towns available to other providers who would then extend service from there.         The Hotchkiss council, in a straw poll was unanimously in favor of supporting DMEA in their “last mile” service resolution with the exception of the “marketing help” item.

Back to the problems with the troublesome SB 05-152, according to the Colorado Municipal League, even the provision of free WIFI hotspots by a government entity such as at the Hotchkiss, Paonia and Crawford Public Libraries are currently in violation of the 2005 law since the Library District is a governmental entity and no election has been held approving such services.  Thus the law has been somewhat ignored on a certain scale.  CML says that the original purpose of the measure, as lobbied by large private providers, was to make it harder for local governments to provide internet service from competing with private providers and to not have any competitive advantage. Ironically, in the meantime providers to rural areas have received subsidies/grants to expand their service in underserved areas including areas of the North Fork.  Unfortunately such service has not included seamless fiber-optic cable from POP to homes and businesses.

With a push towards providing improved broadband service to the Valley, County and region it appears that all jurisdictions need to have voters approve the governmental provision, or partial provision, by a degree of partnership even if very small, of such enhanced internet services.  At the Hotchkiss meeting, Trish Thibado and Scott Thomason of DCED encouraged the Town’s participation in a coordinated election to opt-out of SB 05-152 since at the very least such an affirmative vote would allow flexibility as the move towards enhance internet services moves forward over the next few years.

Besides the DMEA initiative urging a semi-partnership with local governments, there is the quasi-governmental Eagle Net initiative, and Region 10, an organization with local governments as members, recently received a $5.2 million grant to facilitate better broadband in the region.  The grant was received from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and was applied for in partnership with the cities of Delta and Montrose, Delta County, DMEA and Delta County Economic Development. Region 10 will act as the fiscal agent for the partners and DMEA will provide fiber-optic line capacity.

CML also suggests that the best way to regain local autonomy and flexibility is to ultimately repeal the 2005 measure. For now, the doable option, while waiting for this to possibly happen, is for all governmental entities with an interest to schedule a vote to allow provision/partnering regarding internet broadband and for citizens to approve the change.