"Likewise, the rules are usually rigged in such a way that initiatives that are begun by not-for-profits and private citizens' groups can hardly gain access to public rights of way in the same way that either of the former two can, unless, of course, the initiative were to subscribe to one of them in the first place."
From Jim Baller, some factual support...
STATE RESTRICTIONS ON COMMUNITY BROADBAND SERVICES OR OTHER PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS INITIATIVES
baller.com
[Outtakes:]
"5. Louisiana requires municipalities to hold a referendum before providing any communications services and requires municipalities impute to themselves various costs that a private provider might pay if it were providing comparable services. If a municipality does not hold a referendum, it must forgo any incumbent provider’s franchise and other obligations (e.g., franchise fees, PEG access, institutional networks, etc.) as soon as a municipality announces that it is ready to serve even a single customer of the service in question.2 The suspension remains in force until the monetary value of the municipality’s obligations equal the monetary amount value of the obligations incurred by the private operators for the previous ten years. (La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 45:484.41 et seq.)
6. Michigan permits public entities to provide telecommunications services only if they have first requested bids for the services at issue, have received less than three qualified bids from private entities to provide such services, and have subjected themselves to the same terms and conditions as specified in their request for proposals. (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 484.2252)
7. Minnesota requires municipalities to obtain a super-majority of 65% of the voters before providing local exchange services or facilities used to support communications services. (Minn. Stat. Ann. § 237.19)
8. Missouri bars municipalities and municipal electric utilities from selling or leasing telecommunications services to the public or telecommunications facilities to other communications providers, except for services for used for internal purposes; services for educational, emergency and health care uses; and “Internet-type” services. (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 392.410(7)) Missouri also prohibits municipalities from providing or supporting the provision of cable services by third parties without first conducting a referendum. (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 71.970)"
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Footnote, page 1:
"While municipalities sometimes prevail in such referenda, they are time-consuming and burdensome, making public communications initiatives much more difficult than private initiatives. Moreover, in most cases, the incumbent communications providers vastly outspend municipalities and dominate the local news through their control of the local cable system. For example, in a referendum on a public fiber-to-the-home initiative in Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles, Illinois, the incumbents acknowledged spending more than $300,000 in opposition to the initiative, whereas the cities were not permitted to spend any funds to support the initiative, and the local citizen advocates had less than $5,000 available to do so."
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It's self-evident that citizens wanted better throughput. Instead of funding service improvements, incumbents spent $300,000 on defeating local efforts to bootstrap themselves to fibre. This is but one example of many where incumbents claim service improvement is too costly, yet spend freely to maintain monopoly status and substandard service to captured clients.
The evidence is indisputable: the claim that incumbents are suffering at the hands of local and government initiatives is an inversion of the truth. The fact: captured customers are suffering overpriced and underperforming service at the hands of incumbents. Incumbents spend liberally to defeat competition, leaving even less money for service. The linked article (with its cost as part of a nationwide media campaign) is merely another example of dysfunctional spending and misplaced priorities among so-called "free enterprise" monopolists.
Incumbents: they'd rather bitch and complain than work. They've elevated malingering to the highest plane of commerce.
Jim |
