[Davisgig] FCC takes aim at bans on municipal broadband

Larry Dieterich ls at whitewavedigital.com
Tue Feb 3 10:49:48 PST 2015


This is current and very promising.

It will be interesting to watch the big providers respond to this, seemingly growing, populist movement to change the provision of broadband provision.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/The-FCC-Finally-Takes-Aim-At-Absurd-Municipal-Broadband-Bans-132496

The FCC Finally Takes Aim At Absurd Municipal Broadband Bans 
by Karl Bode 01:31PM Monday Feb 02 2015 
After fifteen years of silence the FCC is finally taking aim at state protectionist municipal broadband bans. This website has cataloged the absurdity of such laws for going on fifteen years. The laws, usually written by a giant ISP lawyer, restrict towns and cities from building their own broadband (or in some cases reaching private/public partnership deals) even in cases where incumbent ISPs refuse to offer or improve service. 

The laws essentially allow incumbent ISPs to have their cake (refuse to improve or even install service) and eat it too (prevent anyone from doing so either). 

According to the Washington Post, FCC boss Tom Wheeler is circulating his proposal among Commissioners this week ahead of a vote on February 26. According to the Post's high-level source, the effort will initially only focus on easing such restrictions in North Carolina and Tennessee, but will act as the opening salvo in a much broader dispute: 
quote:
Roughly 20 states have such limits on the books. Overturning the ones in Tennessee and North Carolina would mark the opening of a wider battle over municipal broadband by the federal government. Although any FCC decision in February would be narrowly tailored to the two cities, the legal theory underpinning the proposed action would likely be used to answer similar petitions in the future involving other states.
Municipal broadband operations in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Wilson North Carolina petitioned the FCC for help last summer (pdf), noting that ISP-erected roadblocks were preventing them from improving and expanding their services. The FCC claims it has the authority to eliminate the parts of these state laws that hinder it's Congressionally-mandated task of ensuring "reasonable and timely" broadband deployment. 

ISPs, unsurprisingly, have threatened to sue over the issue. They've also been encouraging loyal politicians to try and derail the FCC's efforts. These politicians tend to pretend they're only looking out for states rights, though you'll note that letting giant companies write laws that trample these same rights doesn't meet the same (or any) resistance. Leaving the right to decide on a community's fate in the hands of that community shouldn't be a partisan issue, yet has fallen repeated victim to inane political bickering.

Last summer I noted that after a decade of apathy on the issue it was put up or shut up time on the subject of municipal broadband. Imagine my surprise when the FCC, headed by a former cable and wireless industry lobbyist, decided to actually put up.

Update: Wheeler issued a statement on the FCC's effort to get heavily-lobbied for state restrictions out of the way of broadband infrastructure improvements: 
quote:
“Communities across the nation know that access to robust broadband is key to their economic future – and the future of their citizens. Many communities have found that existing private-sector broadband deployment or investment fails to meet their needs. They should be able to make their own decisions about building the networks they need to thrive. After looking carefully at petitions by two community broadband providers asking the FCC to pre-empt provisions of state laws preventing expansion of their very successful networks, I recommend approval by the Commission so that these two forward-thinking cities can serve the many citizens clamoring for a better broadband future."



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