Indiana Telcos Do a Little Whining of Their Own

AT&T dialing up legislative mission.  (Northwest Indiana Times, 7/28/2011)

Excerpt:   The Indiana Telecommunications Association will be involved in formulating legislation on the carrier-of-last-resort issue, association President John Koppin said.

He acknowledged there may have to be some provision made if there are isolated pockets left in Indiana where residents truly don't have a choice. Allowing state regulators to pick one carrier for that area or putting all such areas up for bid as a block may be possible solutions, Koppin said.

The second item on AT&T's legislative to-do list involves the I-Light network run by Indiana University, with more than three dozen Indiana colleges and universities as members. The super-high-speed fiber optic network can transmit huge bundles of data at speeds of up to 10 gigabit.

It started as a network to connect colleges and universities involved in data-intensive research but is expanding its outreach to schools, hospitals, government and even businesses, Fleetwood said.

He argued that outreach represents unfair competition for AT& T and other telecom providers because as a university-based system it receives state subsidies and tax exemptions.