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Municipalities running public wireless networks are following with great interest the developments in USA congress regarding 2 new bills recently submitted.
Senators John McCain (representative of Arizona) and Frank Lautenberg (Delegate for New Jersey) presented last June 23rd, a new bill under the title of "Community broadband act of 2005" (S 1294), which will protect the development of broadband networks by municipal governments. This is a direct response to the "Preservation of innovation in telecommunications act" (HR 2726), presented by the Texas representative, Pete Sessions. It is also a response to how America has dropped to country number 16 in broadband penetration.
For more information, you can follow the upcoming news at the SaveMuniWireless campaign website.
The Texas representative Pete Sessions presented last May 26th, a new bill under the title "Preservation of innovation in telecommunications act" (HR 2726) which will prohibit to all local governments to offer any telecommunication or information services where a commercial provider already offers a similar service. Governments already offering services of this type will be able to continue providing them. The bill also aims to establish that if a commercial provider fail to offer a satisfactory service, the local governments will then be allowed to build networks and offer services by them selves.
But Sessions is not the only one. Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, signed a similar state law last June, prohibiting local governments in that state from offering broadband access where a commercial company is already offering it. Another 13 states have approved laws restricting implementation of wireless or wired networks by local governments.
Esme Vos from Muniwireless, clearly expressed that municipalities which implement public broadband networks, decided to do so after finding arguments such as significant telecommunication costs savings, monitoring and public security, besides offering broadband access to marginalized areas. According to her analysis, having a restricted law like this, can have negative effects such as reinforcing the private sector idea of not having to update their infrastructure and keep higher prices.
Free Press explains the evident conflict of interest of Rep. Sessions, who owns more than $500,000 worth of stock options in telephone giant SBC. If passed, the legislation (HR 2726) would allow telecommunication companies to veto locally supported efforts to provide affordable broadband services. On the other hand, McCain and Lautenberg bill, is aiming to avoid any company to have veto power over public initiatives, which will try to offer better services at better rates for their citizens. |
