Comcast, CenturyLink smacked down in Colo.: Voters approve city-owned broadband network [telecom]

open original image

by Bob Fernandez

Fort Collins, Colo., voters rebuked Comcast and CenturyLink on Election Day, approving a ballot question enabling the city to build its own high-speed broadband network even as anti-broadband opponents poured more than $450,000 into the campaign to defeat it.

Fort Collins Citizens Broadband Committee officials said they spent only about $15,000 to rally voters behind their cause. The vote in Tuesday's referendum was 21,641 to 16,228, with the ballot question approved 57 percent to 43 percent, Colorado election results showed.