We encourage Fort Collins voters to approve Ballot Question 2B and allow the city to establish its own fiber optic gigabit internet service.

Not because municipal broadband would fill a major gap in broadband access. Opponents estimate 98 percent of city residents have some sort of broadband access, cellphones included.

Not because the city has put forward a bulletproof plan. We’ve yet to see satisfactory answers to many details of the business model that includes borrowing $150 million to establish the service.

Among them: Will the city operate this new kind of utility on its own, or will it work with a partner experienced in delivering broadband internet access? What low-cost solution will the city offer in addition to its suggested $70 monthly gigabit service and $50 monthly 50 megabit service? What level of certainty does the city have that it can woo at least 28 percent of residential customers away from Comcast and Century Link to make its plan pencil out?

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