Texan size battle for Muni Broadband
Texas has jumped on board of the anti-muni broadband legislation bandwagon. Phil King, chairman of the regulated industries, has authored a bill which even by Texan standards draconian. Some believe that it could even put the kibosh on the free wireless in places like public libraries and parks. Now only having scanned through the bill, I don’t see the extreme nature of the bill, but perhaps I am missing something here. Meanwhile, Esme points out that Electronic Frontier Foundation has joined the fight against the bill and has set-up a website called, SaveMuniWireless. Esme also wonders out aloud on what’s going to happen to two current Muni projects in Texas – Granbury and Corpus Christi. Broadband Reports has a piece on it as well. The way I see it, the whole issue of muni broadband should be put on the ballot, with no one, and I mean none allowed to lobby, or advertise their position, except for the politicians who are either in favor or not in favor of the trend of muni-broadband.
The state of Texas is owned by Verizon. This kind of bill doesn’t surprise me in the least since I am betting Verizon wants to try doing its Fiber to the curb services in its own backyard.
I would be thinking more along the lines of San Antonio based SBC/Cingular/ATT as the likely cause of this … in a state that had already decided to deploy free wi-fi at it’s state rest stops.
The incumbent phone and cable companies — SBC and Time Warner/RR — are behind the bill. But I didn’t write the previous comment.
Whosoever is trying to block broadband, is off their rocker and don’t realize that this is going to make their state unattractive for investment in the long run. Look at the more enlightened stance adopted by rhode island which is trying to get everyone to work together