Telecom companies that provide service in Columbia are pushing back against the idea of the city government expanding broadband service by opening up its existing fiber-optic network.

Acting on a recommendation from Magellan Advisors LLC, the Denver-based telecom consulting firm hired by the city�s Water and Light Department to study broadband service, the city has issued a request for proposals for an outside firm to develop a business plan for how Water and Light might be able to light up its existing �dark fiber� network, converting it to an open-access network.

The Columbia City Council approved a motion at its Aug. 18 meeting directing staff to come up with a business plan for a lit-fiber network. Assistant Water and Light Director Ryan Williams said it would likely be next summer until a business plan is hammered out.

Before approving the motion during the reports section of the council�s agenda, in which council members can propose motions for a vote, Kevin Czaicki, area operations manager for CenturyLink in north-central Missouri, testified that having its own broadband network would present financial challenges for the city.

Czaicki also said that, if the city proceeded with the idea, it would amount to a taxpayer-subsidized entity wading into competition with private business. �This violates the spirit of the law, if not the rule,� Czaicki said.

The dark fiber network currently serves as a relay system between Water and Light electric substations and the department�s control center at City Hall. Water and Light leases out portions of the fiber to 30 local institutions, hospitals and business, bringing in more than $876,000 in revenue.

Magellan estimates that the city would be able to develop a broadband network to serve businesses and organizations based in the �downtown core� for a price ranging between $2.5 million and $3.5 million, which the firm suggested could be paid through debt instruments like loans and bond sales.

When discussing the idea of lighting the city�s dark fiber, city officials have used the analogy of building a public road that would provide equal access to local Internet service providers.

�We would be paving a road that currently, in our opinion, does not exist now,� Williams said.

Michael Morey, president and CEO of the locally-based Bluebird Network, said city is running a �terrific program� by leasing out dark fiber and would support efforts by the city to find ways to improve broadband service. But, he said, it should do so by supporting the work that telecom companies are doing, citing the recent announcement by CenturyLink that it would offer 1-gigabit service to some Columbia and Jefferson City customers.

�Why not spend money on the growth of existing service providers?� Morey said.

Across the country, municipal governments have sought to establish local broadband networks but have come up against well-heeled lobbying efforts and barriers erected by state legislators.

�The fundamental motive is to make sure they limit competition to their benefit,� said Chris Mitchell, director of community broadband for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. According to the institute, which is a think tank located in Washington and Minneapolis that tracks cities that have built local broadband networks, more than 380 communities have some type of public ownership of a broadband network.

Missouri is one of 19 states in which such barriers have been put into place � specifically that cities and counties are barred from selling telecommunications services. But according to Missouri Revised Statutes, local governments are not barred from providing telecommunication services for �Internet-type services.�

The cities of Marshall, North Kansas City, Springfield and Poplar Bluff have developed local broadband networks.