NextLight is proposing a $20 million budget for 2023 with an emphasis on getting more customers signed up for the community-owned internet service provider.
“We now have 25,000 customers and we are really pushing for 27,000 customers,” Valerie Dodd, NextLight’s executive director told the city council Tuesday night.
Dodd spoke as councilors got their first detailed glance of the city’s proposed 2023 operating budget of $414.25 million.
NextLight’s expenses grew by 2% due mostly to salary increases and investing more in marketing the utility. NextLight is also using a customer relationship management, or CRM, platform to help customer relations, Dodd said. “This will help NextLight deliver on its commitment to ‘be easy to do business with.’” she said.
NextLight’s revenue grew by 3% as its customer base expanded but at a slower pace, Dodd said. Comcast cable is also becoming more aggressive in signing up customers in the Longmont market, she said.
Still, Dodd told the council NextLight will continue to focus on “attracting and delighting customers” in 2023. NextLight already employs an exceptionally fast and reliable network with internet speeds up to 10G and next year will execute “a strategic sales and marketing plan with an advanced marketing technology stack,” according to NextLight’s presentation.
