By Bill Hendrickson
In Alexandria, as in most communities across the country, there is only one provider of broadband television and Internet service. Here, of course, it’s Comcast.
At our membership meeting tomorrow, Councilman Justin Wilson will discuss the options the city may have for dealing with the current broadband situation.
There are three main consequences of the monopolistic hold that broadband providers have on local communities: high Internet prices, slow speeds, and lack of universal access.
Meanwhile, consumers in many other countries typically get much faster Internet speeds at a much lower cost. The basic reason? More competition.
Comcast and other broadband providers are now rapidly losing TV subscribers because more consumers are streaming content from the Internet. But Comcast continues to maintain its hold as a broadband Internet provider. In fact, it is gaining Internet customers and appears to have little incentive to expand its network to increase speeds and provide more affordable prices.
It is possible that a private sector competitor to the current monopoly could arise. Google has said it will build more affordable but super-fast fiber-optic Internet service in a small number of trial locations around the country. It has already begun offering such service in Kansas City.
Chattanooga, Tenn., a city only somewhat larger than Alexandria in population, created its own public network to provide ultra-fast broadband.
Baltimore is developing a plan for providing Internet service provider options for residents and businesses. It may even explore whether it can renegotiate its franchise agreement with Comcast.
Cities such as Chattanooga and Baltimore are not looking at expanded broadband service simply to provide an expanded number of consumers with faster, more affordable service, but also as an economic development engine. These cities view high-speed, universal broadband as becoming a basic public utility, like clean water, and see the potential for generating economic and other kinds of activities that might not have been possible before.
Alexandria seems to be thinking along the same lines. The City Council has now tasked the Council-appointed Commission on Information Technology to develop recommendations for promoting innovation and commerce in the city in the use and application of information, telecommunication, and digital technologies. The commission is also being asked to “act as a proponent for the expanded use of wireline and wireless broadband and an increased number of providers” within the city
At the December 9th meeting, we will hear more about what Councilman Wilson and the City Council are thinking.