Cortez and Dolores are working together for faster Internet in government offices.
The Cortez City Council on Jan. 13 approved a memorandum of understanding that allows the town of Dolores to buy bandwidth from Cortez.
The arrangement is a part of the recent $4 million Southwest Colorado Access Network project, which aimed to build an open access telecommunications network to provide secure connections and faster Internet speeds in community public offices in 16 participating areas, including Montezuma County.
As part of the project, Cortez obtained grants to purchase a hub router, which allows nearby towns to connect to it.
At the meeting, city manager Shane Hale described Cortez as the "bike tire" and other municipalities - Mancos, Dove Creek, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Dolores - as possible "spokes."
The city can purchase significant amounts of bandwidth on behalf of the group at a bulk price, and resell a portion to "spoke" communities.
Hale said that the city has been buying 250 mbps of fiber network of bandwidth capacity for the past few years, and has been planning to resell a portion of it to towns as their fiber optic infrastructure gets in place.
"Dolores is interested in purchasing 5 mbps a month for $50 per month," he said.
Private market rates for 50 mbps average $75, depending on the service provider.
"We have the option to get through city or whomever we would like, but we work with the city, we know the city's employees so it works well for us and the price is fine," said Lana Hancock, interim town manager for Dolores.
Mancos entered a bandwidth agreement with Cortez in July to buy 4 mbps for $40 per month.
