ALLO pulls out of Boulder’s citywide fiber project, forcing city to find new partner 5%
By Por Jaijongkit3%
7/30/2026, 5:55:07 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 7 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Appeal to Emotion, and Loss Aversion, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 6.7% saturation with 45 hits. Analysis detected 191 faulty-reasoning hits from 668 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 19.1% and a BS Rank of 5% (21,185 of 22,161 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.60% of the article peer group.
ALLO pulls out of Boulder’s citywide fiber project, forcing city to find new partner
ALLO Communications has told the City of Boulder that it will not build a citywide fiber network, forcing the city to restart a project expected to reach nearly all of Boulder’s addresses by 2030.
In an email to city officials , ALLO cited the rising costs of labor and materials, as well as greater competition, as reasons for pulling out of the project.
“These unforeseen developments have created an environment in which ALLO cannot successfully complete the project,” Andrew Vinton, general counsel for ALLO Communications, wrote in the July 10 email.
ALLO, based in Nebraska, entered into a lease agreement with the city in 2025, renting part of the city’s fiber-backbone network with the goal of offering high-speed internet to Boulder residents.
Under the agreement, ALLO was expected to provide service to 80% of the city by 2028 and 97% by 2030.
The full fiber network would have spanned around 300 miles, serving Boulder homes, all five mobile home communities and some properties in the foothills west of the city.
“ALLO is aware of our obligations under the Fiber Lease Agreement with the City, and that our decision not to build Boulder will result in us failing to carry out certain of our contractual obligations,” Vinton wrote in the email.
The city said in a news release that it is reviewing its options under the terms of the agreement.
“A buildout of a citywide fiber network has been a longstanding goal for our community, and it’s disappointing that we need to reset on this project,” City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde said in the news release .
“We’ll be working to identify a new partner through a new procurement process, while also exploring our legal options in this unfortunate contract situation.”
As part of its request to terminate the lease, ALLO said the city could retain a $1.5 million rental payment and that the company would continue to maintain and operate the city’s fiber backbone until the two sides “agree on a mutually-acceptable transition plan.”
A large-scale buildout was expected to begin in 2026 , focusing on “last mile” connections, which connect residences to the backbone.
Initial construction began in Chautauqua last September as part of a separate project to move utility lines underground.
The fiber construction was expected to expand citywide.
Boulder completed construction of the backbone fiber network in 2024.
The project cost around $20 million and included around 65 miles of fiber infrastructure.
Boulder’s fiber backbone.
From ALLO’s 2025 agreement with the City of Boulder.
Competition, which ALLO cited as a reason for terminating the agreement, was also one of the reasons the City of Boulder partnered with the company.
Most homes in Boulder currently have access to only one wired internet provider, typically Comcast or Lumen.
The city hoped that increased competition would lower prices and improve service.
According to ALLO’s email, AT&T recently acquired Lumen’s Quantum Fiber properties.
Quantum Fiber recently began offering a $45-per-month “price for life” plan.
Prior to entering into the agreement with ALLO , the city considered building a municipal fiber utility.
However, city projections indicated that the utility would impose significant costs on taxpayers because its potential revenue would not cover operating expenses and debt.
In addition to paying for the network’s construction, Boulder residents could have been responsible for $10 million to $22 million annually in subsidies, leading city officials to pursue a partnership with a private company.
The city already uses the fiber network for its own operations, including those of the Utilities and Parks and Recreation departments and Boulder Fire-Rescue.
It also uses the network to operate the Boulder Research and Administrative Network, which connects the city, CU Boulder, NCAR and Department of Commerce labs.
The post ALLO pulls out of Boulder’s citywide fiber project, forcing city to find new partner appeared first on The Boulder Reporting Lab .
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