Members of Jamestown Broadband Commission, the public, watch presentation on City’s Broadband Master Plan (November 3, 2022)
The City of Jamestown‘s new Broadband Commission has begun discussions on whether to bring municipal broadband to the city.
Mayor Eddie Sundquist said many in the city can’t afford the cost of Internet, “The average cost of internet in the city is about $75 a month. And for the average family that has kids in the school district, they can’t afford it. That’s the last bill that they have to pay once you talk about food, transportation, daycare, and any other things that might have to come out of your monthly paycheck.”
Sundquist said when it comes to options for how to bring another broadband option to Jamestown, he prefers the open access network, “Where the city does what it does best, which is making infrastructure, running wires, making sure that the service is there, and then allowing ISPs, those Internet Service Providers, to be able to compete on a marketplace and provide that end service as well as customer service to each of our households. We could take that over. We could be the main ISP but the reality is that there are a lot of great companies out here that would do that.”
He said a new municipal broadband network is estimated to cost $25 million to build and operate, but would come with a fixed cost for users. He said that cost could be offset with Federal Infrastructure monies and possibly American Rescue Plan funds the city has already received.
Sundquist said creating municipal broadband is a bit of a “gray area” in New York State, “We would be the first city in New York to do this. So, we’re still trying to understand the legal ramifications of it. We know we can do it, there’s nothing that prevents us. In some communities and, more importantly, in some states it’s actually illegal for a municipality to run a fiber network.”
Sundquist added that his hope is that there can be a public referendum on whether the community is in support of a municipal broadband plan.
While a date has not been set for the next meeting of the Broadband Commission, members did request additional data on computer and internet access in the city, with Sundquist also offering to set up video meetings with municipalities in the United States who already operate municipal broadband.
Leave a Reply