The Fort Collins broadband service will be called ...

Nick Coltrain | The Coloradoan

Show Caption Hide Caption Fort Collins unveils name of the city-run broadband network Fort Collins City Manager Darin Atteberry unveils the new branding campaign for the municipal broadband network

The broadband utility that Fort Collins hopes its residents will be buying into next year now has a name.

Connexion.

The city held a celebration Thursday to mark the milestone of having cash in hand to start the project in earnest. People have been working in the background for the better part of a decade to get it going. The city hired local firm Actualize Marketing to develop the branding campaign.

Thursday's celebration featured CSU Vice President for Information Technology Pat Burns talking about the importance a fiber optic network for CSU's research and development, particularly as things like artificial intelligence take off. Burns noted that it's already seeming to push down prices and increase speeds among existing broadband providers.

Otterbox founder Curt Richardson talked about the importance the network would have for his business and businesses throughout the community.

Colin Garfield, one of the driving forces behind the voter-approved initiatives for municipal broadband, said it would protect people's privacy and net neutrality, even as the Federal Communications Commission guidelines "ping pong" between different presidential administrations.

RELATED: A consumer's guide to Fort Collins' city-run broadband

And yes, there was even a giant novelty check signifying the $142.2 million in bonds that were sold earlier this month.

City residents should be able to start plugging into the municipal broadband network in fall 2019, though it will be restricted by geography as the network builds out. City officials expect it to be citywide sometime in 2021.

The city hasn't established where it will start the build-out yet. The city also doesn't want to release those details only to have competing broadband providers Comcast and CenturyLink take advantage of the information.

The city is advertising its 1-gigabit-per-second service at $70 a month and $50 for a 50 megabits-per-second service. It also plans to unveil a lower tier price for "affordable" internet. As it finalizes its marketing efforts, residents can expect to see specials and other deals.

In the meantime, the city saw $5.7 million of the total bonds sold to individual investors in Colorado. Another $11.1 million was sold to individuals nationwide. The rest of the bonds were snapped up by institutional investors, such as investment banks.

The bonds sale opened to individual investors a day before the institutional investors. Once it opened to those investors, 99-plus percent of the offering was bought in about 24 hours.

“The successful sale, high-quality credit ratings from two agencies, and investment from right here in Colorado speaks to the tremendous public support and investor confidence in the city of Fort Collins as a fiber broadband utility,” Mayor Wade Troxell said in a news release announcing the sale of the bonds. “I’m thrilled to celebrate this important milestone in the journey to provide open access and high-speed internet service to all in our community.”