5 ms·

I don't think this is a Dem versus Rep thing. Local corruption issues like this usually end up boiling down to following the money. Many municipal broadband pro

I don't think this is a Dem versus Rep thing. Local corruption issues like this usually end up boiling down to following the money. Many municipal broadband projects end up being scrapped after lobbyists $$ get involved regardless of who is running the show.

Spivak 6y ago
It's less that lobbyists are involved but that "why go through the effort of setting up municipal broadband when we (AT&T/Spectrum) are more than happy to work with you and come to an agreement about serving your area." I'm not confident that municipal broadband will ever really take off in the US but I think local loop unbundling might have a chance since I'm sure companies are more than happy to unload all the expensive construction work to the local gov't.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  Usually that is lobbying. Company X: "We'd like to meet with you to discuss how we can service your community better than municipal broadband. Our representative is going to be in Hawaii for the next 3 weeks and we'd be more than willing to fly you and your family out to meet with him. Of course it's inconvenient for you to travel so we'd provide for hotel and airfare."
- nobody9999 6y ago
  >It's less that lobbyists are involved but that "why go through the effort of setting up municipal broadband when we (AT&T/Spectrum) are more than happy to work with you and come to an agreement about serving your area." Actually, It's all about the lobbyists and industry groups, often with model legislation from ALEC[0][1][2] that have blocked municipal broadband in 22 states[3] (down from 25 a few years ago): "Over the past year, several promising developments have been made on the municipal broadband front. Two states were successful in repealing their municipal broadband bans, bringing our tally down to 22 states from 25 states identified in our 2019 report. Those law changes are significant, and may portend similar measures being considered across states in the coming years. This report is the latest in our annual series looking into the state of municipal broadband in America, and provides a state-by-state breakdown of the various roadblocks and restrictions used to prevent their establishment. This year, we’ve also compared access to low-price broadband in states that have no municipal restrictions versus those that do, and we’ve found that the former have lower internet prices on average. State legislatures around the country considered a wave of broadband-focused bills in 2019. That signals not only the importance of addressing broadband access gaps for state lawmakers, but also a growing acknowledgment among state and local governments that they have a larger role to play in ensuring all residents have access to the high-speed internet." >I'm not confident that municipal broadband will ever really take off in the US but I think local loop unbundling might have a chance since I'm sure companies are more than happy to unload all the expensive construction work to the local gov't. I'd tend to agree, as long as state and local government officials continue to be bought (and critically, stay bought) by industry groups. That's not to say that municipal broadband is the solution for every county/city/town. Rather, it's a solution that, under the right circumstances, can improve the livability, access to commercial opportunities, higher-paid residents and a raft of other positive outcomes. These are local and state issues that aren't well suited to regulation/lawmaking from the Federal government, and should be addressed in that fashion. A good place to start would be to reverse the anti-competitive laws in place in 22 states that limit the ability of local governments to implement municipal broadband. I'd say that if the big ISP's don't want it, it's probably a good thing to do. [0] https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Communications_and_Technology_Task_Force https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Communications_an... [1] https://www.govtech.com/network/Lawmakers-Mount-Federal-Effort-to-Block-Bans-on-Municipal-Internet.html https://www.govtech.com/network/Lawmakers-Mount-Federal-Effo... [2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/anti-municipal-broadband-group-tries-to-silence-a-critic/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/anti-municipal-b... [3] https://broadbandnow.com/report/municipal-broadband-roadblocks/ https://broadbandnow.com/report/municipal-broadband-roadbloc...
FireBeyond 6y ago
Realize that the person you are replying to has worked as an attorney precisely for telecom "industry associations" when you're processing his perspective...

Spivak 6y ago

It's less that lobbyists are involved but that "why go through the effort of setting up municipal broadband when we (AT&T/Spectrum) are more than happy to work with you and come to an agreement about serving your area." I'm not confident that municipal broadband will ever really take off in the US but I think local loop unbundling might have a chance since I'm sure companies are more than happy to unload all the expensive construction work to the local gov't.

ogre_codes 6y ago
Usually that is lobbying. Company X: "We'd like to meet with you to discuss how we can service your community better than municipal broadband. Our representative is going to be in Hawaii for the next 3 weeks and we'd be more than willing to fly you and your family out to meet with him. Of course it's inconvenient for you to travel so we'd provide for hotel and airfare."
nobody9999 6y ago
>It's less that lobbyists are involved but that "why go through the effort of setting up municipal broadband when we (AT&T/Spectrum) are more than happy to work with you and come to an agreement about serving your area." Actually, It's all about the lobbyists and industry groups, often with model legislation from ALEC[0][1][2] that have blocked municipal broadband in 22 states[3] (down from 25 a few years ago): "Over the past year, several promising developments have been made on the municipal broadband front. Two states were successful in repealing their municipal broadband bans, bringing our tally down to 22 states from 25 states identified in our 2019 report. Those law changes are significant, and may portend similar measures being considered across states in the coming years. This report is the latest in our annual series looking into the state of municipal broadband in America, and provides a state-by-state breakdown of the various roadblocks and restrictions used to prevent their establishment. This year, we’ve also compared access to low-price broadband in states that have no municipal restrictions versus those that do, and we’ve found that the former have lower internet prices on average. State legislatures around the country considered a wave of broadband-focused bills in 2019. That signals not only the importance of addressing broadband access gaps for state lawmakers, but also a growing acknowledgment among state and local governments that they have a larger role to play in ensuring all residents have access to the high-speed internet." >I'm not confident that municipal broadband will ever really take off in the US but I think local loop unbundling might have a chance since I'm sure companies are more than happy to unload all the expensive construction work to the local gov't. I'd tend to agree, as long as state and local government officials continue to be bought (and critically, stay bought) by industry groups. That's not to say that municipal broadband is the solution for every county/city/town. Rather, it's a solution that, under the right circumstances, can improve the livability, access to commercial opportunities, higher-paid residents and a raft of other positive outcomes. These are local and state issues that aren't well suited to regulation/lawmaking from the Federal government, and should be addressed in that fashion. A good place to start would be to reverse the anti-competitive laws in place in 22 states that limit the ability of local governments to implement municipal broadband. I'd say that if the big ISP's don't want it, it's probably a good thing to do. [0] https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Communications_and_Technology_Task_Force https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Communications_an... [1] https://www.govtech.com/network/Lawmakers-Mount-Federal-Effort-to-Block-Bans-on-Municipal-Internet.html https://www.govtech.com/network/Lawmakers-Mount-Federal-Effo... [2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/anti-municipal-broadband-group-tries-to-silence-a-critic/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/anti-municipal-b... [3] https://broadbandnow.com/report/municipal-broadband-roadblocks/ https://broadbandnow.com/report/municipal-broadband-roadbloc...

FireBeyond 6y ago

Realize that the person you are replying to has worked as an attorney precisely for telecom "industry associations" when you're processing his perspective...