Willmar has been in the news a lot lately because of its broadband plan. I’ve been following the saga but ad a quick reminder – The Connect Willmar Initiative has been working with Hometown Fiber for two years on a open access network plan for the community. They presented it at a City Council meeting last month. Before that meeting, Charter Communications sent the Council a letter asking them to rethink Connect Willmar’s plan and offering to build fiber to the industrial park. According to the West Central Tribune, the City Council will learn more about that on Monday (Mar 3)…
The Willmar City Council is expected to hear details of a proposed agreement between the city and Charter Communications at its meeting on Monday, March 3.
The meeting takes place at 6:30 p.m. in the boardroom at the Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services building, 2200 23rd St. N.E. in Willmar.
The agreement generally would be for the city of Willmar to terminate the Connect Willmar Initiative , a plan to build a citywide, open-access fiber-optic network, in favor of a guarantee by Charter Communications to build out fiber in the Willmar Industrial Park and enhance its services throughout the rest of the community at no cost to the city.
The West Central Tribune also reports…
Along with the letter, Charter has targeted Willmar residents with Facebook ads, and a mailer from the Alliance for Quality Broadband has been sent to Willmar residents stating the city will “burn your tax dollars” if it moves forward with the initiative.
The Alliance for Quality Broadband on its website says it is “supporting high-quality internet solutions,” and Charter is one of its coalition partners.
Charter did the same thing in Maine, successfully defeating at least two municipal broadband projects in Readfield and Southport, according to a July of 2022 report on Maine Public Radio.
The Connect Superior project in Superior, Wisconsin, is a similar project to the Connect Willmar Initiative. According to an email from Superior Mayor Jim Paine, Charter used the same tactics it is currently using in Willmar to try to put a stop to that project.