Follow-up to June 25, 2018 Worksession on Enhanced Broadband Capacity/Equity Copyrighted
July 16, 2018
City of Dubuque Action Items # 1.
ITEM TITLE: Follow-up to June 25, 2018 Worksession on Enhanced
Broadband Capacity, Access and Equity in Dubuque
SUMMARY: Information Services Manager Chris Kohlmann, Public
Information Officer Randy Gehl and Sustainable Innovation
Consultant David Lyons will answer any questions as a
follow-up to the June 25, 2018 City Council Work Session
on Enhanced Broadband Capacity, Access and Equity in
Dubuque prior to City Council Goal Setting.
SUGGESTED DISPOSITION: Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Council
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
Enhanced Broadband Capacity Follow-up to June 25 City Manager Memo
Work Session-NNM Memo
Follow-up to 6-25-18 Work Session Enhanced
Broadband Capacity, Access and Equity in Dubuque Staff Memo
memo to City Manager
Net neutrality information update 7-10-18 Supporting Documentation
THE CITY OF Dubuque
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TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Follow-up to June 25, 2018 City Council Work Session on Enhanced
Broadband Capacity, Access and Equity in Dubuque
DATE: July 11 , 2018
Information Services Manager Chris Kohlmann, Public Information Officer Randy Gehl
and Sustainable Innovation Consultant David Lyons will attend the City Council meeting
to answer any questions as a follow-up to the June 25, 2018 City Council Work Session
on Enhanced Broadband Capacity, Access and Equity in Dubuque prior to City Council
Goal Setting. Some additional information on net neutrality is being provided. There
will be no presentation.
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Mic ael C. Van Milligen �� �
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Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Chris Kohlmann, Information Services Manager
Randy Gehl, Public Information Officer
David Lyons, Sustainable Innovation Consultant
Dubuque
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TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Chris Kohlmann, Information Services Manager
Randy Gehl, Public Information Office
David Lyons, Sustainable Innovation Consultant
SUBJECT: Follow-up to June 25, 2018 Council Work Session on Enhanced
Broadband Capacity, Access and Equity in Dubuque
DATE: July 11 , 2018
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memo is to provide additional follow-up discussion with and among
the Mayor and members of the Dubuque City Council on the issue of Broadband
Internet expansion.
BACKGROUND
In December 2015 and consistent with the Management Agenda item in the 2015 City
Council Goal Setting Session titled "GDDC: Sustainable Innovation" and the
Management in Progress item titled "GDDC Broadband/Fiber Optic Vendor
EngagemenY' staff undertook the Dubuque Broadband Acceleration Initiative. Based
upon research and market realities, the path chosen was to pursue public/private
collaborations to accelerate and expand broadband capacity. Excellent progress has
been made on broadband capacity and access. Staff is still in the earliest of stages on
addressing the third priority .... Equity.
The Dubuque City Council has received several updates on progress of the Broadband
Acceleration Initiative and on June 25�h held a Council work session to receive further
progress reports and to also discuss the request from the Campaign forDubuque
Municipal lnternet to shift from City's focus on public/private collaborations and instead
conduct a study to determine how best to implement a municipally constructed and
managed internet system to provide, among other things, a guaranteed neutral access
to all websites and online services.
DISCUSSION
We understand that there are continuing questions for staff on both the progress made
to date using the public/private collaboration strategy and to the potential barriers to or
strategies for a municipal internet system. Staff would like to make itself available to
provide any additional information, answer follow-up questions or research any
remaining issues the Council members feel important to their continuing consideration.
RECOMMENDATION AND ACTION REQUESTED
If the Mayor and Council wish to have additional discussion or provide additional
direction to staff, we will be available at the council meeting for dialogue or questions on
the Dubuque Broadband Acceleration Initiative. No formal presentation is planned.
Thank you.
Cc: Dave Ness, Civil Engineer II
Kerry Bradley, Engineering
Barry Lindahl, Senior Counsel
2
Net Neutrality Background and Update
City of Dubuque
Updated July 10, 2018
Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers and governments regulating
the Internet should treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging
differentially by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached
equipment, or mode of communication. Twenty years ago, most people accessed the
Internet through services like AOL, a so-called "walled garden," meaning you got
Internet access from AOL but you also used their email, newsfeed, bulletin board—all
bundled from your Internet Services Provider (ISP.) ThaYs no longer true. Now most
people get their internet access services from a provider and they use broadband
services to access email or cloud services from a separate provider. These services
may have nothing to do with their ISP — people are using broadband Internet access
basically like the telephone.
After studying this shift, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2015
reclassified broadband as a telecommunication service; imposed transparency rules;
and, among other changes, barred providers from blocking online content, throttling
speeds or setting up Internet fast lanes and charging fees for their use, whaYs known as
"paid prioritization." This gave the FCC much more regulatory authority over the
industry, and they used this power to put in place strong net neutrality rules designed to
prevent ISPs from discriminating against providers of content and services.
On December 14, 2017 the Republican-led FCC has reversed course and voted to
repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules, known as Title II net neutrality regulations.
The repeal passed along a party-line vote. In February 2018 The FCC's net neutrality
vote was published in the Federal Register, the governmenYs official record of all
administrative actions.
As part of the public debate around net neutrality were court, federal and state
legislative actions, in hopes of overturning it. Several groups filed petitions challenging
the FCC, including Public Knowledge, the California Public Utilities Commission,
Mozilla, Free Press, Open Technology Institute and a group of 22 state attorneys
general including lowa's Tom Miller. There was also momentum for a congressional
resolution to force the FCC to take back its vote and restore the old net neutrality rules.
Fifty-two Senate lawmakers supported a return of net neutrality rules with both lowa
senators opposing the effort. The legislation ultimately did not make it through the
House. In lowa, state Rep. Liz Bennett, D-Cedar Rapids, introduced House file 2287 in
February to maintain the 2015 rules, but the measure gained no traction.
On June 11 , 2018 the FCC officially ended the consumer protections passed in 2015
that prevented internet service providers from blocking or slowing legal traffic, or for
charging for faster delivery of some content. ISPs are required to disclose any blocking,
throttling or paid prioritization of their own content or from their partners on customers'
broadband connections. But if they want to do any of those things, they can.
What does this mean for residents? In a June 13, 2018 Des Moines Register article
https://tinyurl.com/y8hebnse local ISP's including Mediacom, Centurylink and
Windstream all are quoted as claiming support for an open internet with statements that
none block content. Similar statements from other large providers such as ATT&T,
Comcast and Verizon have been shared.
As consumers and business look to the future, there is a concern that the repeal of Net
Neutrality will benefit large ISPs especially in locations where providers are limited.
Companies that provide services over the Internet want to be able to reach their
customers without interference from their ISP. Without Net Neutrality rules in place,
users could experience data being slowed down or blocked, potentially facing paying a
premium if the ISP owns or has a partnership with a competing internet entity or
broadband edge service provider.
Although ISP's are required to disclose any blocking, throttling or prioritization of content
as well as engaging in unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive practices, issues will be
handled after occurring with a complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC.) Although the FTC is compelled to investigate issues, the concern is ISPs could
claim network "issues" and don't have to report things like packet loss or their
performance at peak usage times. In other words, providers could bypass unfair
practices in the name of"reasonable network management."
In addition, a very tangible challenge is control. As Fahas Manjoo argued in a recent
New York Times column that "...by the time Tom Wheeler, F.C.C. chief under President
Barack Obama, handed down rules to protect neutrality in 2015, we had already strayed
quite far from the internet of the early 2000s, where upstarts ruled our lives...a vibrant
network doesn't die all at once. Instead it grows weaker over time, with innovative start-
ups finding it ever more difficult to fight entrenched incumbents.""
Manjoo continues, "Today, the internet is run by giants. A handful of American tech
behemoths —Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft — control the most
important digital infrastructure, while a handful of broadband companies — AT&T,
Charter, Comcast and Verizon — control most of the internet connections in the United
States." With fewer companies deploying large scale, competitive fiber, one should
expect the regional monopolization of high-speed broadband to get worse in the U.S.
market.
Dubuque values an equitable and sustainable city. Planning for the community's future
and facilitating equitable access to critical human services is vital to accomplishing that
mission. The internet services of our community, play a key role in maintaining and
growing equitable and sustainable service delivery for our residents and businesses.
Much work has been done to attract additional broadband providers to Dubuque with
much work remaining to be done through leveraging available telecommunications
assets, creating master agreements for public/private partnerships and working with
legacy providers on new and enhanced services. As we continue to evaluate the impact
of new rules around "net neutrality," specific actions will be evaluated with our local,
state and federal partners on next steps. The City of Dubuque will continue encouraging
our legislative leaders to protect an "open internet."
In addition to working with legislative leaders, what can be done now that net neutrality
has ended?
. Monitoring. We (network professionals) need to closely monitor internet latency
and hop path count to ensure that no ISP configuration changes are going on
behind the scenes that can affect network performance. If we notice any
significant changes, you should contact your provider and find out why it
occurred.
. Plan for possible service changes. It is critical that we are prepared for any
changes to the services that an ISP offers. Although carriers have said they do
not plan to block or throttle web access or charge increased prices for delivery of
online content, that can change at any time due to the potential benefits of
making changes. It is important to create what-if and next-step scenarios if the
current ISP(s) were to make various changes.
. Contractually require Net Neutrality for all city ISP service contracts.
. In Public Private Partnerships give preference to net neutral companies and
encouraging sharing of fiber optic infrastructure.
. "Stay tuned" and be open/prepared for new markets and methods of internet
service delivery.
Prepared by Chris Kohlmann, Information Services Manager