New York City Public Advocate Creates Municipal Broadband Plan

“By leveraging existing infrastructure and building new pathways, we can create a municipal system that provides affordable and accessible internet for all,” said Williams, who has been affiliated with both the Democratic and Working Families parties, in his plan.

While the public advocate doesn't have a vote on the New York City Council, he's allowed to introduce bills and has oversight responsibilities for city agencies. Even if Williams’ plan isn't adopted, it might influence how New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) as he seeks to comply with a city law that requires him to resurrect the Internet Master Plan of former Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).

That Master Plan called for the city to invest in broadband expansion through private-public partnerships. It was replaced by former Mayor Eric Adams (D) in favor of his Big Apple Connect, which subsidized broadband in New York City public housing.

Williams’ blueprint starts with a two-year period to launch feasibility studies and assess city assets that could be used to create a municipal broadband network. There would also be increased enforcement on companies that control poles that could be used for fiber expansion in the city to ensure they adhere to agreements that facilitate such expansion. After two years, the city would start to build out fiber infrastructure to create a municipally owned “broadband backbone,” which ISPs would use to connect homes and businesses.

Once the broadband backbone is completed, the city would launch a pilot program to directly provide broadband to homes in “communities that have historically lacked reliable service,” the plan says.

A Charter spokesperson said the company opposes Williams’ plan, and the Big Apple Connect program was working to connect low-income New Yorkers.

“Big Apple Connect is an unequivocal success that is saving [NYC Housing Authority's] low-income consumers more than $1,700 a year on average,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Public funds should be focused on adoption, affordability, and digital literacy and leveraging existing private providers to scale adoption citywide -- not on building and maintaining municipal networks, which would be an extremely costly, burdensome, and endless investment of taxpayer money.”

Charter is one of two ISPs contracted as part of Big Apple Connect. Representatives from Optimum, the other contracted ISP, and Verizon didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.

Christopher Mitchell, director for community broadband networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said, “Companies like Verizon and Charter Spectrum do a decent job of serving a majority of people who are in decent financial circumstances, but serving the neighborhoods that have a history of poverty requires more than those companies can offer.”

He added that using a broadband backbone would increase broadband competition without requiring New York City to take on the entire financial burden of a municipal broadband program.

Michael Santorelli, director of the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School, said the plan is too extreme and expensive, particularly a part that suggests using eminent domain to force Con Edison to allow the state to run fiber through its utility poles and conduits.

“It's not well-informed, it's not rigorous, it's not driven [and] it's not informed by the latest data. … It introduces some new extreme elements that haven’t really been seen before,” he said. “Full stop, no need at all for a municipal broadband network in New York City.”

In the Bronx, the average price for service with speeds of 100 Mbps download/ 20 Mbps upload is $79.83, compared with just $56 a month in Manhattan for the same speeds, according to data provided in Williams' plan. As of 2022, 25 neighborhoods in the city lacked a commercial fiber provider on at least 25% of their blocks, it said. In the same year, 31 neighborhoods had a broadband adoption rate below 60%.

Santorelli said the latest data shows signs of increased broadband adoption since the information in Williams' plan was collected. The latest FCC data showed that at least 98.7% of every New York City borough has access to the internet with download speeds of at least 250 Mbps, while Census data estimates from 2024 showed that 88.9% of households in the city have adopted some form of broadband, though 23% relied just on a cellular data plan.