In 2024, internet access is a basic necessity. Back in 2020, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the stark reality of this was in full relief. As we wrote in April of that year:
The taxpayer safety net that some rely on for connectivity — schools and libraries — are closed. So where does that leave a family that needs to have their children participate in school activities but don’t have access? When everything goes virtual, and the resources once available dry up, what is a community to do? We believe it’s time to start thinking about the internet as a utility rather than a commodity to bridge the digital divide between those who have and those who do not.
In that editorial, we envisioned a community with widely available, and affordable (better yet, free) internet funded by taxpayers and operated through local government. The Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband (UC2B) network was established in 2009 with this idea in mind. With a vision of “a community where every person has equal access to technology and support that enables participation in employment, education and social activities without barriers,” UC2B formed as an intergovernmental consortium with buy-in from the City of Champaign, City of Urbana, and University of Illinois. It was part of a $4 billion grant program from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and a component of the broader 2009 stimulus package.
In 2014, Smile Politely published a series examining the origins and trajectory of this non-profit organization in its first five years of existence. In 2009, UC2B was established as an intergovernmental agreement, and the infrastructure was constructed by 2012. In 2013, it became an independent non-profit organization rather than a government-run entity, and in 2014, there was talk of partnering with a private company to facilitate a broader expansion of their services. That private company was iTV-3, which was eventually acquired by i3 Broadband. Through this decade of transitions in management of the UC2B Broadband network, there have been some positive results for underserved portions of our community. You can read about some of those on the UC2B website. However, as we said back in 2020,
Although UC2B is a non-profit organization, run by highly-qualified volunteers, in the end, i3 Broadband is a private sector company, so as one might expect, its ability to provide free or discounted services to people who aren’t able to afford a basic connection is limited. We shouldn’t expect private sector companies to provide free services, though if the internet was treated as a utility in C-U, we could create paths to fund services for the community.
Earlier this month, the Urbana-based internet provider Volo Internet + Tech announced a new “open-access agreement” with the UC2B fiber network that will make services “available to tens of thousands of residents throughout the cities of Champaign and Urbana via the UC2B backbone and expansions operated by i3 Broadband,” starting at around $50 per month, which is about half the cost of what i3 is currently offering through the same network. This development taps into the original conception of the UC2B network, which was built with the idea that multiple internet service providers could tap into it and utilize the already constructed fiber network. Ultimately, it’s a step in the right direction to create a broader market of internet options for more people, and that’s a good thing.
First, it’s an opportunity to utilize services from a locally-based company, one that has been advocating for expanded connectivity in our community for a long time. When SP spoke to Volo CEO Peter Folk ten years ago, he had this to say:
Utilities are there to provide services, it’s not about extracting the most money from customers. If you provide good services, over time, it’s a win-win for both parties. The point is not to make people think they are getting exclusive products, but to provide the best possible connections to the home. New technologies should not be a next-generation thing, they should be an ‘everybody’ thing. We try to stay on the cutting edge and fiber is a better way of delivering a service we already provide. I envision every home will have fiber in the next ten years.
Ten years later, not every home has fiber, but many many more do. And this opens up a more affordable option for thousands more residences in C-U. We reached out to Folk about this expansion of their services, and his response was this:
We have always made a very concerted effort to offer services that are accessible to everyone price-wise while still providing great Internet speeds. So this network doesn’t specifically allow us to offer lower prices; instead it makes it possible for us to offer our normal services (which are an exceptional value) to most of Champaign-Urbana, instead of the limited areas we were able to serve previously.
Hopefully it’s the beginning of a trend of a more expansive market of companies utilizing this established network. More options can bring about better services and more competitive pricing. The UC2B board co-chair offered a similar sentiment:
The UC2B network was always envisioned to make this cutting-edge technology available to all residents of the community through an open access framework. The UC2B network is a community asset and now residents will enjoy the benefits of a competitive vendor environment in which multiple companies can differentiate themselves based on their pricing plans, service options, and performance track record.
We still wonder what it might be like for our cities to re-prioritize some funding to subsidize expenses to bring costs down for everyone. What if a single percentage or two of sales taxes or property taxes went to this sort of fund? Is this something that is more important than funding private security in Downtown Champaign, or license plate readers? Perhaps that is for another article. For now, we are happy to see more households in our community have the opportunity to get connected.