BUFFALO, N.Y. — It was December 23, 2019 when the Buffalo Common Council voted to update its franchise agreement template for fiber-optic installations in the city.
Weeks prior, Greenlight Networks announced that they planned to expand into the City of Buffalo in 2020.
After that vote, 2 On Your Side spoke to Common Council President Darius Pridgen about the change in policy and the Greenlight expansion.
"It has already been encouraged by this Common Council to ensure that areas that sometimes do not see that growth when there is something new that comes to the city, those areas we are asking that they'd be the first to be considered," said Pridgen in regards to the Greenlight Networks expansion.
A year later, the first neighborhoods for the Greenlight Networks expansion have been announced and the Pridgen isn’t thrilled.
"I would be dishonest if I didn't say I am somewhat disappointed in the choice of the first rollout with Greenlight," Pridgen said. "And I expressed it to them."
The main issue Pridgen has with the rollout is the neighborhoods selected are the upper/lower West Side, parts of the Elmwood Village, and areas that Buffalo State students historically rent while school is in session.
Pridgen says there are neighborhoods that are in critical need of high-speed broadband infrastructure.
"We had hoped that in those areas where we have so many children, especially during COVID, who may be able to benefit from Greenlight," Pridgen said. "But they made different decisions."
Pridgen did go on to say that he's happy there is competition, finally, in the City of Buffalo when it comes to broadband.
"We just hope that their rollout across the city will not take, you know, years to happen, especially for poor and disenfranchised communities," Pridgen added.
The Greenlight Networks rollout will take years to happen, for a myriad of reasons. Greenlight has to select their phase two neighborhoods, come to an agreement with utility companies to access the right-of-way and other bureaucracy that takes up time.
Greenlight says these are the areas that requested their product the most and where they were able to develop locations to install equipment to distribute their broadband.
In a statement to 2 On Your Side the company said they agree with the concerns Pridgen has, and that they want to work with the council on solutions:
"Greenlight shares the Council President’s concern for broader fiber broadband access throughout the city, and we are committed to being part of the solution. Greenlight sought insight from each council district on community partners for our initial deployment. However, access alone won’t solve the digital divide as 100 percent of city residents already have access to the internet. After the new year, we will announce our initial community initiative and look forward to working with Council President Pridgen on initiatives that support digital inclusion and readiness. Greenlight also shares Council President Pridgen’s concern over the speed of our network deployment. Like other fiber-based providers, Greenlight is dependent on utility companies to perform the work necessary to ready their infrastructure for our construction. With the cooperation of the utility companies and the support of regional leadership, we hope to complete our construction across the City of Buffalo in a few years."
Greenlight’s entire model — and this was evident in their Rochester buildout — is based on consumer demand.
But ultimately this leads to some neighborhoods getting service and others not. Verizon wanted to do something similar during the FiOS rollout a decade ago, but the franchise agreement at the time prevented cherry picking neighborhoods.
A by-product of the new agreement last year is a provider doesn’t have to connect the whole city at once.
Pridgen says the Greenlight model of waiting for consumers to demand the service might not be ideal for Buffalo.
"I would like for them to consider a different method, in choosing what neighborhoods they will expand to next, understanding this huge digital divide, that we have in Western New York," Pridgen said. "It is about working with the company to help them to better understand where they could be most beneficial.
Right now Greenlight Networks is still developing phase two of their rollout in Buffalo. Phase one construction will begin in 2021. Sources tell 2 On Your Side that an announcement is expected in early 2021 that will outline community partnerships that have been set up by Greenlight. I’m told there will be some developments regarding community partnerships with greenlight and local partners to get the word out sometime in early 2021.
While Pridgen is critical of phase one locations, he’s not writing the company off and is still eager to work with them for future phases.
"This company has not been shy about working with us, talking to us, meeting with us," Pridgen said. "I would hope that we stay on that same path so that we can see growth."