"We're starting from a different place in terms of the infrastructure," said Karen Toering with Upgrade Seattle. "The city already has in place hundreds of miles of dark fiber that we're not even using right now that were already laid in the years previous to now."
The group presented in front of the council's energy committee, saying building a public broadband system would pay off for consumers.
"What we're talking about is a competitive system where the government acts as an additional player," Toering said. "I think that consumers will see better service if they choose municipal broadband. They will see better service if they choose to go with private corporations … because the competition is very different."