Comments on: Stop the North Carolina anti-muni broadband bill http://www.muniwireless.com/2007/06/08/stop-the-north-carolina-anti-muni-broadband-bill/ Municipal wireless, citywide WiFi, WiMAX, broadband news Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:10:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: John http://www.muniwireless.com/2007/06/08/stop-the-north-carolina-anti-muni-broadband-bill/comment-page-1/#comment-15230 John Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:48:39 +0000 http://muniwireless.sandboxdev.com/?p=6102#comment-15230 The most anti-competitive item in this bill--and the one that is most likely to kill the usefulness of any network constrained by this bill--is the idea that the timeline to "profitability" should be consistent with commercial practices for similar projects. The raw arrogance of this is breathtaking. Writing the assumption that municipal broadband MUST be, by FORCE OF LAW, motivated by the sort of instant profitability that has led the incumbents to refuse to invest in modern broadband capacities is a sure way to make sure that no municipality can build a superior system and offer it to its citizens for a more attractive price than the incumbents. Cities that build infrastructure are not, and should not be, motivated by such simple greed. Infrastructure that the private sector does not find attractive enough to invest in should be purchased exactly like any other infrastructure: its cost should be spread over its useful life and the community charged a pro rata share of its cost each year. The most anti-competitive item in this bill–and the one that is most likely to kill the usefulness of any network constrained by this bill–is the idea that the timeline to “profitability” should be consistent with commercial practices for similar projects.

The raw arrogance of this is breathtaking. Writing the assumption that municipal broadband MUST be, by FORCE OF LAW, motivated by the sort of instant profitability that has led the incumbents to refuse to invest in modern broadband capacities is a sure way to make sure that no municipality can build a superior system and offer it to its citizens for a more attractive price than the incumbents.

Cities that build infrastructure are not, and should not be, motivated by such simple greed. Infrastructure that the private sector does not find attractive enough to invest in should be purchased exactly like any other infrastructure: its cost should be spread over its useful life and the community charged a pro rata share of its cost each year.

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