The Chapel Hill Town Council moved forward Monday with an initiative to provide Internet to communities, despite concerns about its legality.
The Gig.U initiative is a nationwide effort to provide high-speed Internet access to universities and their surrounding communities that has been successful in states like Florida and Maine.
North Carolina began its own initiative under the North Carolina Next Generation Network group — made up of six municipalities, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and universities like UNC and Duke.
The group hopes to release a request for proposal Feb. 1. This allows potential network service providers to submit proposals for the job.
In November, Cynthia Pols, a telecommunications attorney, contacted the group about major problems with its request.
One of the problems is the legality of some of the objectives — specifically one that would require low-cost Internet in low-income neighborhoods.
Under state and federal laws, North Carolina municipalities can neither franchise nor regulate broadband systems, Pols said.
“North Carolina is a unique beast in terms of the restraints in municipalities,” she said. “The North Carolina legislature has essentially prohibited municipal involvement in the broadband arena.”
Because municipalities do not have these powers in North Carolina, the network group cannot enforce the contract with the service provider.