Rochester, MN is a world-class medical and tech community which is growing due to major initiatives such as Destination Medical Center (DMC). To support our dynamic community, we need affordable, world-class broadband in order to retain, attract, and empower residents and businesses. Unfortunately, the current broadband providers are not committed to this goal so it is up to us as a community to make it happen. Therefore, we request that the Rochester City Council initiate a market/feasibility study to evaluate the potential of an affordable, world-class municipal broadband network serving all residents and businesses.

In the 21st century, broadband has become critical infrastructure. Communities need affordable, fast, reliable broadband to survive and thrive. Students need it in order to complete assignments both inside and outside of the classroom. Residents need it for entertainment, communicating with others, taking classes, working from home, and other purposes. Businesses need it to operate and compete effectively, with many businesses needing better upload speeds. In the future, much higher speeds are needed to support cloud services, medical imaging, 3-D printing, and other uses.

Currently, the city is primarily served by 2 broadband providers, Charter and CenturyLink, whose prices and speeds are often worse than those offered by smaller providers in other communities. Particularly impressive are fiber-to-the-home offerings by HBC, serving southeast Minnesota, and US Internet, serving south Minneapolis. While Charter’s standard offer is 60 Mbps (download) for $60 per month, HBC offers 100 Mbps for $60 per month and US Internet offers 1000 Mbps (1 gig) for $65 per month. (HBC and US Internet also have lower-priced options.) The maximum download speed offered by Charter is only 100 Mbps while HBC offers 1 gig and US Internet offers 10 gig. And Charter’s upload speeds are only a fraction of those offered by HBC and US Internet.

The current broadband duopoly does not support the needs of our community. And no other provider has plans to offer better broadband service to the whole community. Therefore, it is up to us to meet the needs of our community by creating an affordable, world-class municipal broadband network serving all residents and businesses. This network will increase competition in the local broadband market, providing consumers with improved pricing and performance. And it will enhance our broadband competitiveness relative to other communities, allowing us to more effectively retain and attract people and businesses.

In July, Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) presented a broadband business case to the Rochester City Council estimating that the city could create such a network for around $66 million in bonding. Revenues from the network would pay for the bonds and operating costs. Even if only 30% of the community signed up, the study estimated that the network would become cash flow positive in about 2.3 years. The network would be a world-class fiber-to-the-home network offering speeds up to 1 gig (download and upload) and a low-cost option so low-income households, especially those with schoolchildren, can afford service.

The next step in the process is for the city council to initiate a market/feasibility study to evaluate the potential of an affordable, world-class municipal broadband network serving all residents and businesses. We strongly encourage the city council to do this.

NOTE TO PETITIONERS: Please sign this petition only if you are a Rochester, MN resident.