On the first day of hearings on Texas House Bill 789 which contains restrictions on municipal broadband, the legislature heard testimony from large corporations. Savemuniwireless.org reports: “On this first day, they chose to hear testimony only from professional lobbyists, mostly the big company telcos.”On the first day of hearings on Texas House Bill 789 which [...]

“You’ll be pleased to know that communism was defeated in Pennsylvania last year. Governor Ed Rendell signed into law a bill prohibiting the Reds in local government from offering free Wi-Fi throughout their municipalities.” So begins Lawrence Lessig’s impassioned plea in Wired for more competition in the market for broadband services which in many cases [...]

Will the Texas legislature knowingly pass a bill that may harm their constituents’ ongoing participation in the Global Networked Economy, and negatively impact the future competitiveness of every business within the state?Will the Texas legislature knowingly pass a bill that may harm their constituents’ ongoing participation in the Global Networked Economy, and negatively impact the [...]

Tropos CEO Ron Sege has sent a letter to Phil King, the Texas legislator who proposed restrictions on municipal broadband (in House Bill 789). Ron points out that more than 135 municipalities and service providers use Tropos mesh network equipment worldwide (clearly quite a lot of people think wireless broadband networks are worth deploying) and [...]

Techdirt, one of my favorite sites, reports that “Google is getting set to open a research facility in Oregon. Deep within the details comes the news that a good part of the reason they chose this location was a municipal fiber project, meaning there would be plenty of bandwidth for the Googlers.” The point of [...]

How do you take a state back in time to the 19th century? Easy. Pass legislation prohibiting governmental entities from investing in tomorrow’s technology. Ensure that the incumbent telcos have no competition. A certain Illinois state legislator has introduced a bill that would prohibit municipalities from offering wholesale or retail broadband service. How do you [...]

The Tallahassee Democrat is reporting that a bill limiting broadband service by government entities is back for legislative consideration. According to the article, the bill would place restrictions on local governments that are already in the communications business from getting new customers. The Tallahassee Democrat is reporting that a bill limiting broadband service by government [...]

“Internet access is fast becoming a basic public necessity ‚Äö?Ñ?Æ just like water, gas or electricity. But far too many Americans, especially in rural and poorer urban areas, are finding themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide, priced out by high monthly fees or stranded by corporate redlining that has deemed their towns [...]