Access to high-speed internet in our homes is an essential utility, not a luxury. Our local and regional governments have a responsibility to provide equitable, accessible, and affordable fast-internet service to every home and business- just like electricity, water, and waste removal. Portland, Oregon, has existing infrastructure that can be used to provide affordable access to fast-internet for all Portlanders: a publicly owned dark fiber network used for essential city services – IRNE (Integrated Regional Network Enterprise) Net. Expanding and opening access to IRNE Net would encourage the growth of new local internet service providers (ISPs), provide a new source of revenue for the City of Portland, and create the means through which to give Portlanders affordable access to high-speed internet, in every home and business.
This essential utility service in Portland is provided by corporations charged with making as much profit as possible – resulting in predatory behavior towards consumers. In the past, the capital investment necessary to build robust broadband service resulted in only a few large under-regulated corporations controlling internet access and service offerings in the Portland Metropolitan region. Oftentimes that infrastructure was built with public funds, through federal grant programs. Yet ownership remains with private corporations, who also pocket significant profits.
Municipal Broadband across the U.S.
In the United States, in 2018, over 100 communities nationwide were offering some form of high-speed internet service. Since then, there has been a dramatic expansion in this space. Currently, over 600 communities offer municipal broadband in some capacity, an increase of more than 600 percent since 2018. Municipal broadband can be both faster and more affordable than internet offered by privately owned ISPs and helps bring high-quality internet to places with limited access, such as rural and low-income areas. It also keeps taxpayer money local, and local control of internet provision leads to more accountability and greater competition
[…]
Content was cut in order to protect the source.Please visit the source for the rest of the article.
Read the original article: