By Allan Maurer
RALEIGH, NC–Both houses of the North Carolina legislature sent proposed bills that would limit the ability of municipalities to build their own broadband networks back to committees for study. Cable and telecom providers lobbied for the bills, which received national attention from sites such as www.slashdot.com.
Several NC cities have or want to install their own broadband services, especially in more rural areas, saying the cable firms and telcos will not deliver the high speeds they request to attract knowledge economy businesses.
The incumbent providers, such as Embarq and Time Warner Cable argue that municipalities possess unfair advantages over private companies and say the bills would “level the playing field.”
Wilson, NC built its ultra-fast Greenlight 10/10 broadband system to attract new business to the Eastern NC community once dependant upon tobacco and textiles, which are still important there, but not the future, says City spokesperson Brian Bowman.
Bowman writes a blog (http://savencbb.wordpress.com/) about the city’s fight against the proposed NC bills. Wilson sells its Internet, digital phone and cable services for $99.95 a month. It’s high speed both up and downloading is unusual, as is the price for all three services.
A similar, but slower speed package from Time Warner Cable costs about twice that.
Craig Settles, a West Coast consultant specializing in the issue wrote in an email, “That this bill even received serious consideration is testimony to the need for a national law from Congress protecting communities and muni broadband networks from incumbents incapable of competing on a field already tilted in their favor.”
The current bills will likely come up for committee study sometime in September, Bowman says, and emerge with a report in about a year.
Several other NC cities are building their own municipal systems as well, and their was some question as to whether those with plans or systems already in service would be “grandfathered” into the current bills. Bristol, Virginia, has also created its own broadband system successfully.
Settles wrote, “The network in Wilson and other cities in N. Carolina also demonstrate why final rules for stimulus grant program should favor local communities. The economic and other benefits these networks are producing are perfect examples of what happens when the people with broadband needs are the ones to find the best solutions for those needs.”
Nationally, a number of states have already enacted laws that limit the ability of municipalities to offer their own broadband services.
For more information see:
Additional resources:
Municipal broadband battle rages on
http://techjournalsouth.com/news/article.html?item_id=7358
Previously on TechJournal South: For more perspective on the incumbents’ position:
http://techjournalsouth.com/news/article.html?item_id=7334
Excellent resource with extensive links on municipal broadband efforts:
Baller Herbst Law Group:
http://tiny.pl/zj3s
States that have already passed laws limiting municipal broadband:
State Barriers to Community Broadband Services
http://tiny.pl/zj36
Wikipedia entry on municipal broadband
http://tiny.pl/zj33
Municipal Wireless Snapshot report:
http://www.successful.com/msp/snapshot-4-09.pdf
Fast Company: Time Warner’s Antics in Wilson, NC Give another reason to snip the cable:
http://tiny.pl/zj37
List of municipal broadband network organizations.
http://tiny.pl/zj34
An older, but contrary view from the Reason Foundation:
Municipal broadband fails again
http://tiny.pl/zphh
Southeast Venture Conference, February 29 – March 1, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, VA – Where Smart Money Meets Smart People.
www.seventure.org
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