Cleveland Heights To Conduct Municipal Broadband Study

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — City officials are exploring offering internet services through the local government. One local group hopes this is the first step on the path to a municipal broadband offering in Cleveland Heights.

City officials issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a broadband needs and feasibility study on Aug. 2. The RFP will lead to a study of internet demand in Cleveland Heights, as well as the infrastructure necessary to offer government-based internet to residents. Possible vendors have until mid-September to apply to conduct the study.

The Citizens for Heights Municipal Broadband group, a coalition of residents advocating for municipal broadband, celebrated the issuance of the RFP. "We think the city's RFP is fantastic. We put in a lot of hard work to bring Municipal Broadband into the city's list of priorities," said Nikhil Chand, a member of the group.

Chand said the Heights Municipal Broadband group has spent hours discussing internet issues with members of Cleveland Heights City Council, the CH-UH Board of Education and the Heights Libraries. They've also tried to galvanize residents using social media.

"Initially, we thought we would have to petition to have our legislation added to the ballot box - and that was just for the feasibility study," Chand said. "We reached out to city council first, not sure if this was something anyone would champion. Lo and behold, there was a lot of support across most members of council. "

Why Does Municipal Broadband Matter?

Cleveland Heights is a city of more than 44,000 people, according to U.S. Census data. Nestled close to Cleveland's cultural heartbeat, University Circle, there is high-demand for quality internet services.

"Cleveland Heights' residents are fed up with the current private ISPs servicing our area, so Municipal Broadband injects free market competition into a sector where demand is high for something other than our current broadband choices," Chand said in an email to Patch.

If the city began to offer its own internet services to residents, Chand believes officials could be held accountable to provide:

• Guaranteed net neutrality (meaning no capping of data usage, no fast lanes for certain websites)
• Guaranteed privacy (no storing of personal data, or advertising based on that data)
• Equitable access across the city
• Infrastructure capable of providing at least one gigabyte per second
• Revenue neutral services (meaning the utility could not be used to generate a profit for the city, instead all funds would be used to maintain the network and lower subscription costs).

Chand's group also wants to create an oversight committee for the service.

The city's RFP also commissions the study of alternative broadband offerings in the form of public-private partnerships. Chand said his group wouldn't support such an offering, but does support the study of public-private options.

"The more data the better, and we want our fellow citizens to have as much data necessary when they have an opportunity at the ballot box to vote for implementation of Municipal Broadband," Chand said.

The city's RFP has been shared online.