Municipal Internet Service

Meetings

To view the previous meetings, visit the City's YouTube channel linked here.

Reports

Final Report on the Feasibility of Municipal Broadband Internet Service for the City of Albany (PDF)

Preliminary Report - Feasibility of Municipal Broadband Internet Service for City of Albany

Members

The Commission on Municipal Internet Service consists of five members appointed by the Mayor and five members appointed by the Common Council. These members will continue to serve for six months following the submittal of the final report to the Mayor and Common Council. 

Mission

The mission of the Commission on Municipal Internet Service was to research the feasibility, logistics, and financing of creating a municipally-run, citizen-owned high speed internet service that could provide internet speeds far greater than what private companies currently provide and ensure such service could be made available to every Albany resident and business, regardless of income level or geographic location in the City.

Creating high-speed, reliable, affordable, and citizen-owned internet service has shown to be a major economic boost in municipalities where such infrastructure exists. Providing this service would also serve as a significant benefit in every neighborhood in Albany, particularly in neighborhoods where unemployment and poverty rates are high. Affordable, reliable internet access gives individuals, among a host of other benefits, the ability to more easily search for employment, work from their homes, and take online higher education courses.

The marketplace for internet access lacks any true competition. Residents are faced with expensive plans that provide sub-par internet speeds. Chattanooga, Tennessee serves a model for municipally-run internet service. That city’s average download speed is over 100 megabytes per second. In Albany, the average download speed is a little over 20 megabytes per second. Establishing a successful citizen-owned internet service would be an enormous help to attracting new small businesses and residents to Albany, which means a significant increase of our tax base, more thriving commercial centers, and give Albany a major competitive advantage over surrounding municipalities.

Applicable Laws

City of Albany General Code Chapter 42  Part 39.