Broadband Access — the issues
We’ve written a few times recently about municipal
wireless, broadband access, and the digital divide (The Digital Divide, Race, Class, and Municipal Wireless and
ALA gets on the broadbandwagon and Free community wi-fi is a library issue and What is Network Neutrality and Why Should Libraries Care?). Here is a list of some useful
background articles from industry, community activists, technologists, and journalists.
Overviews
- City-Driven Network War In The City Of Brotherly Love
by Drew Clark, National Journal’s Technology Daily
August 22, 2005 pm edition. [subscription required]. -
Consultant Wayne Caswell provides this white paper overview of the issues:
BIG BROADBAND: Public Infrastructure or Private Monopolies (PDF) By Wayne Caswell, CAZITech Consulting. He says that it is “…written for consumer advocates and policy makers to contrast the different incentives of incumbent ISPs, municipalities and other stakeholders. It suggests that the capital expense of extending fiber closer to premises is high enough to cause incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to cherry pick the most profitable customers in green field installations, leaving others to fend for themselves. ThatÕs where public broadband comes in. The politics of broadband, however, can pose obstacles for municipalities that want their own networks, so the paper also includes a section explaining the fears of various stakeholders. Incumbent phone companies, for example, fear competition from voice-over-Internet-protocol alternatives and are using their deep pockets and powerful lobbyists to delay municipal networks as long as they can.” - Broadband Properties magazine, May 2005 issue: “Focus On Municipal Broadband” has several papers from different points of view. A few are highlighted below.
- A Mayors Guide to Broadband
By Sandy Teger and Dave Waks, Broadband Properties (May 2005).
A plain-English guide to the six leading broadband technologies.
Industry Views
- The Case Against Public Broadband By Dave McClure, US Internet Industry Association.
Broadband Properties (May 2005) - Not in the Public Interest: The Myth of Municipal Wi-Fi by
the New Millennium Research Council (February 2005)
The telecommunications industry tends to oppose cities providing
broadband access. This is an often-mentioned paper that summarizes industry views. - Municipally Owned Broadband Networks: A Critical Evaluation,
Heartland Policy Study No. 100,
Written By: Joseph L. Bast,
Published In: Policy Studies,
(November 1, 2002)
The Heartland Institute. It suggests, for example, that
“…the purpose [of municipal broadband] is to subsidize a small number of community residents and businesses who want the highest quality broadband services but arenÕt willing to pay the full price for them.”
Behind the industry studies
- Some of the studies supporting the industry viewpoint claim to
be objective but are written by groups with strong industry ties. For
example,
although The New Millennium Research Council (NMRC) claims that
its reports are “completely independent,” it
is actually owned and sponsored by Washington lobbying firm Issue Dynamics Inc. (IDI), whose clients include most of the major telecommunications companies in the United States according to stories in eWeek:
Philadelphia to Announce Wi-Fi Expansion Plans
(By Wayne Rash, eWeek, February 3, 2005)
and
Municipal Wi-Fi: Let’s Keep It Local (by Carol Ellison, eWeek,
February 3, 2005). Ellison
says that IDI clients include
Ameritech, Bell South, Comcast, Pacific Bell, Qwest, SBC Communications, Sprint, U.S. West, Verizon and Verizon Wireless and that “These companies favor state legislation prohibiting municipal broadband (including Wi-Fi) projects or giving incumbent carriers veto power over them, such as Pennsylvania did.” - muniwireless notes
the background of the institute:
The Heartland Institute is a proud member of Townhall.com which describes itself as follows: ÒTownhall.com is the first truly interactive community on the Internet to bring Internet users, conservative public policy organizations, congressional staff, and political activists together under the broad umbrella of ÒconservativeÓ thoughts, ideas and actions. Townhall.com is a one-stop mall of ideas in which people congregate to exchange, discuss and disseminate the latest news and information from the conservative movement.Ó
Community Views
- Ten Myths About A Publicly Owned Information Network in Minneapolis, and the Facts by
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance at the NewRules Project
(August 1, 2005).
The New Rules Project is up front that it values “the new localism” which “encourages us to begin viewing our communities and our regions not only as places of residence, recreation and retail but as places that nurture active and informed citizens with the skills and productive capacity to generate real wealth and the authority to govern their own lives.” - Who Will Own
MinnesotaÕs Information Highways? by Institute for Local
Self-Reliance and the New Rules project (June 2005). They argue that “a community owned system would generate benefits for these cities. It would, for
example, provide a yardstick against which to measure the effectiveness
of privately owned telecommunications networks. It would allow community
services like fire and police and libraries and schools to take
advantage of a low-cost, high-speed network. Most importantly, it would
allow telecommunications customers a seat at the table as our
communities elaborate their information futures.” - Ten Myths About Municipal Broadband
By Jim Baller,The Baller Herbst Law Group, Broadband Properties (May 2005).
The attorney for many groups fighting incumbent-inspired state restrictions on muni systems, Baller makes a forceful case for public broadband.