Axios: The startup that wants to disrupt big internet providers. https://www.axios.com/broadband-startup-disrupt-internet-service-providers-1b704aae-b8cf-40f0-b1e3-20e88f24fa91.html "A new startup backed by funding from AOL founder Steve Case and Laurene Powell Jobs wants to break up broadband monopolies across the country. Why it matters: Internet access has been crucial during the pandemic, but it's not ubiquitous, and it can be both slow and unaffordable in swaths of the country.
What's happening: Underline, a community infrastructure company, began building its first open access fiber network in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last week. - Under the open access model, Underline builds and operates the fiber network while multiple service providers can use it and offer service to customers. - Residential service will start at $49 per month for a 500 megabits per second connection, with a gigabit connection available for $65 per month. That's much faster than the 25-Mbps benchmark the Federal Communications Commission uses to define high-speed internet service. - Underline chose Colorado Springs for its first project by evaluating several factors, including households that lack internet access, the number of existing providers and how angry customers were with their current internet options, CEO Bob Thompson told Axios. By the numbers: Underline's project in Colorado Springs involves more than $100 million in capital to build 400 miles of fiber and offer service to 55,000 residences and businesses. - Underline has a list of about 2,500 target cities for service, Thompson said. - "We aspire to be the country's first nationwide open access network,"
