Franchise Agreement to Bring Gigabit Fiber Infrastructure to Wellington

Wellington, CO — The Town of Wellington took a step toward securing a vibrant, prosperous  future last month when its Board of Trustees voted unanimously to enter into a franchise agreement with Comcast of Colorado. 

The agreement awards Comcast a 10-year, nonexclusive, revocable franchise to construct, operate, and maintain a cable system within the Town of Wellington. That means Wellington residents —along with a bevy of new cable television options —now have access to faster, more stable broadband internet. 

Comcast offers multi-gig internet delivered to the home via a full fiber network. That means faster speeds over a more secure connection for homes and businesses in Wellington. 

“The addition of Comcast as a broadband service provider to Wellington’s portfolio is essential to our Board’s Strategic Plan and commitment to responsible growth for our residents,”  Wellington Trustee Brian Mason said. “Gigabit broadband speeds and fiber-to-the-home are  essential services that will improve infrastructure and service delivery to the future of our  wonderful Town.” 

Fast, reliable access to broadband internet is necessary in today’s world for vital aspects of life such as civic and cultural participation, employment, education, and access to essential services.  Better broadband access has also been shown to have lasting, wide-ranging positive effects,  especially in rural areas, where studies have linked it to improvements in unemployment and median household income, along with better health and life outcomes. 

“Connecting our communities to what matters most is part of our Comcast DNA,” said J.D.  Keller, Sr. Vice President for Comcast Mountain West Region. “We are proud to partner with the  Town of Wellington to bring our fast, reliable, and secure fiber network and the full breadth of  our Xfinity and Comcast Business services to residents and businesses in this community.”  

Comcast’s availability in Wellington also means households receiving public assistance have the option to take advantage of Comcast’s Internet Essentials service, which offers home internet for only $9.95 per month to qualifying households. The program, which Comcast has offered nationally for more than a decade, also offers the opportunity for Internet Essentials customers to purchase a new Dell laptop for only $149.99 (taxes and fees extra).  

“Internet Essentials is a way we as a company can do what we do best: broaden digital access,”  said Leslie Oliver, Senior Director of External Communications for Comcast Mountain West  Region.

Residences aren’t the only places in town that will be better connected. Comcast’s end-to-end  fiber network ensures better internet access for businesses across town, too, including better Wi Fi access for vendors working events in town like Main Street Market. Comcast will also be  responsible for providing broadband service to the Town’s expanded Water and Wastewater  Treatment Plants scheduled to be operational later this year.  

And, in addition to improved digital access, the franchise agreement offers other benefits for  Wellington, as well, such as the ability to collect a franchise fee without having to establish its  own service. 

“Under our franchise agreement, the Town of Wellington will collect franchise fees, which will help to increase revenues, without the need for upkeep and maintenance of a municipal broadband service offered under the umbrella of our limited Town government,” Mason said. 

Comcast has also shown a willingness to invest in the Wellington community. That includes  helping to secure a pair of grants to improve access for residents in a couple key ways. 

The first grant will provide $40,000 for the town to improve its audio-visual equipment in the board room at the Leeper Center. This gives residents more stable and higher quality access to live streams of Town meetings as well as a better archive of those recordings.  

In the past, Comcast would help provide this access by offering municipalities their own local  TV station. However, a grant for better A/V equipment in the town hall has the potential to benefit all residents, not just those who are Comcast television customers. 

“I welcome Comcast to our community,” Mason said. “I want to thank them for their generous  grant committed to improving our municipal government’s important task of reliable  communication with our residents, including improvements to the Board of Trustees meeting  streaming services.” 

The second grant is helping Wellington’s Senior Resource Center expand its digital skills  program by providing four laptop computers as well as funding for four workstations and  education for seniors looking to improve their digital abilities. The grant not only helps improve  access for seniors — a segment of the population often overlooked in the digital transition — it  offers that access from the comfort of their senior center community. 

Comcast also has a longtime partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County and recently awarded grants to support digital skills-building programs for youth at the Sage Homes  Wellington Club. Students from the Wellington Club recently worked with Comcast film crews to star in a 30-second video spot airing soon on cable channels across the region. 

Comcast will begin to install its network in the south part of the Town along Highway 1 and work north. The company hopes to provide service to as many as 1,600 Wellington customers by the end of 2024 before expanding the network in 2025. 

For more information on Comcast’s offerings in Wellington, residents can visit  https://colorado.comcast.com/network-expansion.