Lubbock Electric Utility Board member proposes municipal owned fiber-optic network

[TexasTowelie]

As the city works to bury the utility lines underground in downtown Lubbock, what if they also installed their own fiber-optic network and offered Internet?

This rather ambitious question was brought forth by Charles Dunn, a member of the Electric Utility Board, during a meeting on Tuesday. The board also discussed the development downtown and Lubbock Power & Light’s annual financial report at the meeting.

Dunn’s thought is this: if LP&L and the city are already paying to dig trenches and place the utility lines underground, maybe it’s feasible to go ahead and place high-speed fiber cables in their, too.

This is currently just an idea. The board voted unanimously to instruct staff to find out the estimated cost this would add to the project, and look into whether there are any state laws that place limits on municipal broadband networks.

Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2015-02-17/eub-member-proposes-municipal-owned-fiber-optic-network#comment-364180

[font color=green]An interesting idea. Should the city get involved in an area that has been delegated to the private sector? Should the city offer service to businesses only or to individuals also? Can they regulate the content on a public network? How would they charge for service--flat fees or by the amount of data accessed? I'm sure that there are other questions...[/font]

[djean111]

1. Oh, ALEC is gonna hunt that down and shoot it. This is one of ALEC's targets - NO municipality-

owned internet. None. They have already started on that, in some states, I believe.
Good luck to him.

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/03/12010/community-owned-internet-long-targeted-alec-and-big-telecom-under-fire-georgia

Members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in the Georgia Legislature are pushing a bill to thwart locally-owned internet in underserved communities, an industry-sponsored effort that effectively reinforces the digital divide. (UPDATE: HB 282 failed on a 94-70 vote on March 7.) If Georgia had passed the bill it would have been the twentieth state to eliminate community control over internet access. - See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/03/12010/community-owned-internet-long-targeted-alec-and-big-telecom-under-fire-georgia#sthash.xB9Oukiv.dpuf