Council grants two five-year nonexclusive telecom franchises to expand local broadband infrastructure

The Redmond City Council approved two five-year, nonexclusive telecommunication franchise ordinances to allow providers to place facilities in the city right-of-way.

Valerie Taylor, the city's billing and collections manager, told council Raleigh Networks approached the city in May seeking a franchise to bring high-speed internet, phone and data services for residential and business customers; staff recommended a five-year nonexclusive agreement and said the company must still complete state-level permitting and interior remodel work before service rolls out. Taylor said "we don't know exactly what the fiscal impact for gross revenues is gonna be ... until they roll out their network" and estimated the rollout will take about 12 months.

Council then approved Ordinance 2025-17 (Raleigh Networks) by motion and roll-call vote. Taylor also presented a separate franchise for Will Telecommunications LLC (Ordinance 2025-18), noting that Will had purchased FTV Communications and already has approximately 25,000 feet of underground fiber in the city that currently generates about $45,000 annually in franchise revenue based on lineal-foot fees rather than gross revenues.

Taylor said the Will agreement is a renewal of an existing arrangement; the franchise agreements typically include automatic renewal options for two additional five-year terms (for a possible 15-year total). Council approved Ordinance 2025-18 by motion and roll-call vote.

On both items, councilers moved for first and second reading by title only, then held the roll-call votes. Ordinance numbers and the associated nonexclusive franchise grants were entered into the record; staff said they would return with documentation as providers progress through state permitting and network buildout.

Neither ordinance specified exact gross-revenue projections; Taylor said actual fiscal impacts will be known once networks are operational.