Case Study of Unsuccessful Municipal Broadband Efforts: City of Ruston, LA

The following case study focuses on broadband deployment efforts initiated by a city government to build a fiber network for local business customers. In particular, this case study highlights the circumstances that might cause a city to rethink a municipal broadband project.

The city of Ruston, Louisiana, built a fiber network in 2010. Since its inception, the city-owned fiber network has grown to cover over 136 miles connecting about 300 business owners in the area at a cost of at least $6.5M. The city partners with a third-party, Uniti Fiber, to provide communication services to city schools. In 2018, the city considered taking its broadband deployment efforts a step further by expanding the offering to include retail internet access to households. A survey from October 2020 seemed to indicate widespread support from the community of Ruston, with 70% of the survey respondents expressing their support for a residential fiber network a and majority expressing their definite interest in buying such service.

In 2020, however, the city decided to halt its residential expansion plans as it sought to remove itself from the broadband industry entirely by seeking offers to purchase its network. This decision came about in response to an increase in federal funding being provided to underserved and unserved U.S. communities to build or expand broadband networks. While many communities to date have championed these federal subsidies, the city of Ruston viewed Louisiana’s funding allocation of more than $1.3 billion in BEAD funding as a sign that it was time for them to exit the business and find a buyer. In particular, the mayor of Ruston, Ronny Walker, has justified the city’s decision to exit the broadband business by saying that, “if we can’t be number 1 or number 2 in a business, then we need to get out of it.” He further shared that “Fiber is not our strong suit. We don’t have the (manpower). We depend on contractors. Before the government got into it, we were in pretty good shape. But when the government started throwing out hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars to provide fiber throughout the state, we backed off. It’s a whole different ball game now.”

After issuing a Request for Proposals for potential bidders in April 2024, the city officially sold its fiber optic broadband network to RightFiber on March 14, 2025. Headquartered in Jonesboro, Arkansas, RightFiber is part of the Ritter Communications parent company and has developed a legacy for over 115 years of “delivering best-in-class technology paired with a world-class customer-focused experience”. With more than 10 companies expressing interest in the sale, the city of Ruston chose RightFiber due to the company’s strong reputation of being customer friendly and customer centered. While the timeline of the transfer is still up in the air, Ritter Communications CEO Heath Simpson shared plans to “…expand [the] 100% fiber network not only within the business community but to Ruston residential neighborhoods as well, positioning the area as a regional broadband leader and making it a gigabit city.” In addition, the city of Ruston plans to transfer the $5 million from the deal into city reserves to replenish the costs that it incurred during the EF3 tornado that struck the city in 2019. The mayor has shared, “It basically cost us $10 million following the tornado to get the city back up and running,” said Walker. “FEMA paid for about half of that. So this basically makes us whole again.”

From a financial standpoint, the city incurred at least a $1.5 million loss in its deal with RightFiber. However, it seems that the mayor of Ruston made the decision to sell at a loss now rather than incur further losses. Indeed, with federal funding available to support broadband expansion and increasing competitive pressure from private ISPs, the city likely viewed its network as poorly positioned to sustain itself over the long term. Ultimately, this case highlights how the availability of significant federal funding for broadband might spur localities to rethink their pursuit of municipal broadband projects. Indeed, more and more localities might opt to take the path that Ruston chose, leaving the provision of broadband service to the private sector so that it can allocate available public resources to support core municipal services.