I know it’s not Minnesota, but we can walk to Superior from Duluth, so it’s close enough, plus it seems like a potential precedent starter, WDIO reports…

Monday, the Superior City Council approved an ordinance that has made broadband internet a public utility.

This means that they can go through with the construction of their own broadband internet service for their residents to sign up for. Giving them, what the city says, affordable and efficient internet access. …

Having broadband as a public utility was the project’s final step before the could start construction. Now Mayor Paine says that construction can start in the spring.

He says, “we made broadband a utility so that we can begin constructing and actually provide high speed, reliable, and most importantly affordable internet to everybody in the city.”

Residents will be able to choose to be on the city’s internet service when it is completed.

The idea that broadband should be declared a utility is not new. In 2015, I looked at what making broadband a utility would mean to rural Minnesota. In 2021, a Self Finance survey found that 2 out of 3 people thought broadband should be a utility. Just interesting to see it happen at the municipal level.