Mayor Brian Bagley
- On Longmont
“Like electricity, the Internet has become a crucial utility for American families and businesses. Longmont’s residents want and need reliable high-speed Internet. And through NextLight™, they’re getting access to the fastest and most dependable network around.”
- On Next Century Cities
“When other cities have the same interests and the same challenges, it just makes sense to learn from them. There’s no sense in reinventing the wheel. We know that cutting-edge broadband is vital to Longmont’s homes, schools, and businesses, and by working with Next Century Cities, we can share our NextLight experience while also learning from our partners. It makes all of us better.”
- What Longmont is working on
Our NextLight fiber-optic broadband network has made Longmont into Colorado’s first Gig City, providing citywide symmetrical gigabit speeds with no data caps or contracts. NextLight was named the 2017 Community Broadband Project of the Year by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), and in 2018, PC Magazine named NextLight the fastest ISP in the nation, displacing two-time champion Google Fiber. “Who could beat Google at its own game? NextLight, that’s who,” the magazine wrote. “There’s no denying small local players like this are the best hope we all have for seeing major gains in connectivity speed.”
The name reflects Longmont history. In 1912, the city turned its “first light” on by providing its own electricity despite fierce private industry opposition. Today, the light and glass of fiber optics provide Longmont with its “next light,” a model that communities across the country are studying as they prepare their own efforts. “Longmont has been the poster child for municipal broadband in Colorado,” the newspaper BizWest noted.
Longmont built its core fiber-optic loop in 1997, but a public-private partnership to build out a citywide internet service fell through when the private partner declared bankruptcy in 2001, not long after the agreement was signed. Plans for the network were further stalled in 2005 when the Colorado Legislature adopted Senate Bill 152, forbidding local governments from offering telecommunications services. Local voters restored those rights to the city in 2011, despite an industry-led opposition campaign that spent nearly $420,000. In 2014, Longmont began construction and offered service to the first NextLight customers.
Today, more than 50% of Longmont has subscribed to NextLight, with new customers joining every day. Offering both high-speed internet and Digital Voice telephone service, NextLight continues to transform homes and businesses across the city.
Media Coverage:
- NextLight tops speed test rankings in seven-state region, July 1, 2019
- The fastest ISPs of 2019, June 26, 2019
- NextLight Wins Affordability Awards from BroadbandNow, May 11, 2019
- NextLight-Longmont wins 2019 Cornerstone Award for Excellence!, April 20, 2019
- Longmont to provide free NextLight to low-income schoolchildren, January 21, 2019
- Longmont Community Foundation offers free internet to low-income families with children in school, January 18, 2019
- More than half of Longmont has signed up for NextLight, and private internet providers have reacted, October 31, 2018
- Longmont wins All-America City designation, June 24, 2018
- The Fastest ISPs of 2018, June 18, 2018
- City of Longmont, Colorado: NextLightTM Powers Up in Art In Public Places with $526,000+, April 30, 2018
- Longmont’s NextLight issues net-neutrality policy, February 11, 2018
- T-Mobile Closes Layer3 TV Acquisition, January 23, 2018
- KGNU Connections on Community Broadband and Power, January 5, 2018
- Colorado Connected, now with Nextlight, December 18, 2017
- Longmont’s Success Leads to Dozens of Followers, July 24, 2017
- Longmont’s NextLight Internet Service Wins National Award, July 18, 2017
- Longmont is the First in Colorado to Get City-wide Symmetrical Gigabit Internet, July 13, 2017
- Mayor Dennis Coombs Proclaims: Longmont is a ‘Gig City’, July 11, 2017
- Longmont named fastest city in PC Magazine, June 7, 2017
- Building Smarter Cities, February 15, 2017
- Longmont’s NextLight joins forces with Denver-based Layer3 TV. March 11, 2017
- Netflix, YouTube and Longmont’s NextLight are working together, October 7, 2016
- Times Call: NextLight is the FASTEST Internet service in the U.S
- NextLight accelerates network construction and deployment
- The Hill: FCC intends ‘clear message’ by overriding state broadband laws
- Times Call: Longmont Power & Communications working to speed up installs
- Times Call: Residents eagerly greet first NextLight installs
- USA TODAY report on the launch of the fiber network in Longmont
- LPC announces NextLight, Longmont’s only 100% fiber-optic network
- St. Vrain school district: Longmont-managed Internet network faster, cheaper
- Longmont fiber network construction to begin
- TCS picked to to build Longmont fiber rollout
- Fiber-optic bond issue passes
- Longmont fiber plan projects three years to total coverage
- Boulder County Business Report – Longmont rolls out free Wi-Fi in parks, July 2012
- Longmont voters lift state restrictions on fiber loop