Think local: The struggle for municipal broadband
It's safe to bet telecom companies aren't happy with the way 2015 has started. Last week FCC chairman Tom Wheeler aligned with President Barack Obama in support of strong Net neutrality rules, and this week Obama came out swinging against state laws that limit municipal broadband.
The prospect of an open Internet and competition in broadband services may send a frisson of horror through the telecom industry, but consumers and businesses that rely on the Internet can cheer these developments.
Speaking in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Obama flayed telecom giants that have lobbied states for a ban on public networks. "In too many places across America, some big companies are doing everything they can to keep out competitors," he said. As a result, 19 states have "laws on the books that stamp out competition and make it really difficult for communities to provide their own broadband."
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As Bruce Kushnick, author of "The Book of Broken Promises," recently wrote:
As of January 5th, 2015, America is now 26th in the world in broadband download speeds and 44th in upload speeds, and we've paid over and over and over again for upgrades that were never done, including the wiring of schools. We collectively paid about $400 billion to have the phone networks upgraded to fiber optics, and the cablecos' collected over $50 billion extra since 2000 under something called the 'Social Contract,' which was supposed to wire the schools. Meanwhile, Time Warner and Comcast's profit margins on high speed Internet were 97 percent in 2013, and there have been continuous rate increases for over 20+ years on cable service.
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http://www.infoworld.com/article/2871298/internet/think-local-struggle-for-municipal-broadband.html
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