Cities Do Broadband Internet Better than Telecoms. (AllGov.com, 6/27/2011)
Excerpt: “If forced to, private companies will compete,” writes David Morris, director of the New Rules Project. “But they much prefer to spend tens of millions of dollars buying the votes of state legislators to enact laws that thwart competition rather than spend hundreds of millions to improve their networks.”
According to New Rules, four states have banned municipal networks: Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Another 14 have strong restrictions on their development. Although the federal government’s Schools and Libraries Program (also known as E-Rate) provides funds to help local schools and libraries buy broadband, communities are not allowed to use the money to build a municipal network.
The Texas legislation was named the Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act. Really.
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