Cable-backed anti-muni broadband bill advances in North Carolina

[jayfish]

Source: Ars Technica

Let's be even clearer about what is at stake in this fight. Muni networks are providing locally based broadband infrastructures that leave cable and telco ISPs in the dust. Nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee's city owned EPB Fiber Optics service now advertises 1,000Mbps. Wilson, North Carolina is home to the Greenlight Community Network, which offers pay TV, phone service, and as much as 100Mbps Internet to subscribers (the more typical package goes at 20Mbps). Several other North Carolina cities have followed suit, launching their own networks.

In comparison, Time Warner's Road Runner plan advertises "blazing speeds" of 15Mbps max to Wilson area consumers. When asked why the cable company didn't offer more competitive throughput rates, its spokesperson told a technology newsletter back in 2009 that TWC didn't think anyone around there wanted faster service.

When it comes to price per megabyte, GigaOm recently crunched some numbers and found out that North Carolina cities hold an amazing 7 of 10 spots on the "most expensive broadband in the US" list.

So what appears "predatory" to Avila might look like "competition" or even "faster, cheaper service" to others. In any event, here's what's in the legislation. Some of it seems reasonable. Other parts have us scratching our heads.

Read more: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/cable-backed-anti-muni-broadband-bill-advances-in-north-carolina.ars

[msongs]

1. internet should be a public utility, screw corporate whores who only offer HIGHER prices nt

[Jkid]

2. Proof that private corporations hate real competition.

Even if the real competition is a local government doing the private corporations job for them.

[highplainsdem]

3. This sort of legislation is part of a national campaign by ALEC. See this topic

I posted yesterday about a Wisconsin ALEC member just named chairman of the Public Service Commission by Scott Walker:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x765158

Montgomery was named ALEC's Legislator of the Year in 2005 for similar legislation blocking municipal broadband networks.

I haven't been able to find any direct link yet between Avila and ALEC, but the organization tends to be secretive about its membership, and that will be even more likely in the future as ALEC gets more negative publicity.


Editing after doing some quick googling.

Yes, that legislation is from ALEC:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4097

-snip-

In 2007, several cities and small towns in North Carolina began investigating the possibility of establishing municipal broadband service—due in large part to the number of rural communities who have no access to the service and who, according to local officials, are being deprived of economic opportunities as a result. Not long after these cities made their intentions known, the Fair Competition Act appeared in the state General Assembly (Independent Weekly, 6/13/07). One of the bill’s primary sponsors, Rep. Harold Brubaker (R.), is an active ALEC legislative member and served as the group’s national chair in 1994 (Washington Times, 8/4/94).

According to Paul Meyer, chief legislative council for the North Carolina League of Municipalities, the Fair Competition Act was part of a plan to hamstring municipalities in the broadband market, unleashed on the state by Time Warner Cable , AT&T, Verizon and Embarq Communications (now CenturyLink).

-snip-

In North Carolina, the Fair Competition Act died in 2008 (Independent Weekly, 6/18/08). Meyer says the telecommunications corporations repackaged and reintroduced several of the more stringent stipulations as the Level the Playing Field Act. Although that bill stalled out in 2009, Meyer says the corporate pressure is not off, adding that telecommunications companies have been pushing similar legislation across the country.

-snip-

As the article you linked to explains, the current NC bill is called the "Level Playing Field/Local Gov't Competition" act.

[Shallah Kali]

7. thank you for the links. I thought I had read ALEC had been behind laws like this before

Notorious Pro-Corporate Group ALEC's Hidden Role in Stoking Class War in Wisconsin and the Rest of America
The American Legislative Executive Council works behind the scenes, using state-legislative stooges to implement the agenda of giant corporations and the super-rich.
February 22, 2011 |

http://www.alternet.org/story/150001/notorious_pro-corporate_group_alec%27s_hidden_role_in_stoking_class_war_in_wisconsin_and_the_rest_of_america?page=entire

it has also been a steadfast proponent of telecommunications deregulations and an opponent to Net neutrality. Among the telecom legislations it has backed have included are the "Advanced Voice Services Availability Act of 2007," "Broadband Parity Act," "Cable and Video Competition Act" and the "Municipal Telecommunications Private Industry Safeguards Act." The Advanced Voice Services Act was written to block state public utility commissions (PUCs) from regulating rates, terms or conditions for interconnected Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) services like that offered by Vonage

[DCKit]

4. I've got 9 networks available right now, and as many as 16 in the evening.

That's (at least) 16 people paying from $20 to $50 per month for internet access - and that's just the ones in range of my piddly USB stick radio receiver.

We should do better.

[highplainsdem]

5. kick

[Lyric]

6. "OMG! They offer superior service at a much lower price!"

"We can't COMPETE with that!" <------ Corporate America

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

If the government can give its citizens a better quality service for less money, then why would ANYONE vote for a party that wants to privatize these services?! It makes no sense. They might as well use "Vote Republican! We'll raise your bills and decrease the quality of your service, but we'll do our damndest to make sure those gays can't ever get married!" as their official campaign slogan.

I guess bigotry is one hell of an expensive luxury for the right wing.

:banghead:

[Shallah Kali]

8. don't forget the religious sects who preach against the government taking the place of god

cuz anything the gov does good gets between you and god don't ya know and Jesus can't come back if cheap broadband and medicare for everyone is making people grateful to government instead of god and all that stuff. this is for real people like david barton the pseudohsitorian are among those spouting this crap and it is now part of the gop mainstream where they either really believe (like I thin Michelle Bachmann really does) or if they go along for the power it brings from those who vote every election no matter how minor (like newt).

Jesus Hates Taxes: Biblical Capitalism Created Fertile Anti-Union Soil
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/4366/jesus_hates_taxes%3A_biblical_capitalism_created_fertile_anti-union_soil/


Is Wisconsin Union-Busting Religiously Sanctioned? - Christian Reconstructionists training at work
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/julieingersoll/4279/is_wisconsin_union-busting_religiously_sanctioned

[mwooldri]

9. The bill *does* make it harder to set up.

However there was a bill passed quite some time ago that means the State of NC grants cable TV franchises, not individual cities anymore.

Secondly there is nothing to stop a co-op, a non-profit organization, or a public private partnership from setting up shop running a competitive network. Just apply for a statewide franchise from the Secretary of State, source your money from various sources to get started (would it be a municipal system if multiple cities threw their money in the pot along with some private sector cash?) and you have your seed money to build out a new competitive network, without the municipal regulations but the advantage of being "non profit" or "for members" - thus keeping the cost to the consumer low and providing a better service as well.