[CWN-Summit] Fwd: Anti-Muni BBND Bill:Salisbury's neighbors to Leg: Don't Kill our Fibrant Dreams

Tue Apr 12 14:52:14 CDT 2011

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: catharine Rice <ricecb at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 2:30 PM
Subject: Anti-Muni BBND Bill:Salisbury's neighbors to Leg: Don't Kill our
Fibrant Dreams
To: Catharine Rice <SEATOApres at yahoo.com>

Salisbury's Neighbors to State Legislature: Don't Kill Our Fibrant Dreams

 By christopher <http://www.muninetworks.org/users/christopher> on April 12,
2011

Time Warner Cable's bill to kill competition by limiting the right of
communities to build their own broadband
networks<http://www.muninetworks.org/content/digging-h129-another-bill-nc-limit-local-authority-and-broadband-competition>will
have a committee hearing this week in North Carolina's Senate. Stop
the Cap! has details in its action
alert<http://stopthecap.com/2011/04/06/action-alert-bill-to-stop-community-broadband-being-rushed-through-nc-senate/>--
we encourage people to continue contacting their Senators as well as
contacting local officials and telling them to contact Senators.

We have seen some interesting news coming out of North Carolina recently,
including Salisbury connecting its 500th customer to its publicly owned
Fibrant network
[pdf]<http://www.ci.salisbury.nc.us/press/2011/february/CityFibrant500thCustomerFINAL2_28_11%20%282%29.pdf>.
Additionally, some nine nearby communities have told Raleigh they want to
preserve their right to be served by
Fibrant<http://www.salisburypost.com/News/041011-Fibrant-package-Mayors-want-Fibrant-as-a-choice-qcd>(the
bill would greatly limit the territory in which Fibrant can expand,
unlike private companies which have the freedom to expand across the state).
The story starts with a church in one of the communities, Faith:

Mahoney said his church, Faith Baptist, would like faster Internet speeds
but can’t afford the $20,000 Time Warner Cable would charge to build a
business-class circuit for the church.

Church members are not satisfied with
DSL<http://www.muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term9>service from
Windstream, Mahoney said. But it’s their only option since they
can’t afford Time Warner’s price tag, he said.

If Salisbury extends Fibrant to Faith, the church would have another choice
for high-speed Internet, said Mahoney, who owns Rowan Onsite Computer
Solutions in downtown Salisbury and has Fibrant.

This bill, inaptly named "Level Playing Field" creates new restrictions for
publicly owned networks like Fibrant, which under current law can offer
services to any community requesting them.

[image: Stop the Cap]

Stop the Cap supplemented this article with more information from a local
resident<http://stopthecap.com/2011/04/11/salisburys-fibrant-faces-unprecedented-demand-for-service-legislators-want-to-restrict/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Salisbury%27s+Fibrant+Faces+Unprecedented+Demand+for+Service+Legislators+Want+to+Restrict>
:

“Isn’t it simply amazing that Fibrant is being bashed as a
failure-waiting-to-happen by the sponsors of this bill while mayors across
two counties are absolutely clamoring to get the service to their
residents,” said Stop the Cap! reader Andy Brown who lives near Landis. “How
can Marilyn Avila and Tom Apodaca have the slightest
bit<http://www.muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term3>of credibility on
this issue when you see town leaders literally falling all
over each coveting a service that these
legislative-Friends-of-Time-Warner-Cable have predicted is a certain
failure?”

“I want Fibrant in Landis myself, if only for the competition,” Andy shares.
“You know, the kind of competition legislators are supposed to support.”

A new bill has been introduced in the Senate to more heavily regulate
community networks but in a less heavy handed manner than
H129<http://www.salisburypost.com/News/041011-Fibrant-package-Hartsell-bill-would-help-cities-qcd2011-04-11T05-51-23>.
This bill would totally exempt the existing networks, as opposed to H129
where the sponsors have consistently lied about how it impacts existing
networks.

Salisbury, Wilson, Morganton, Mooresville and Davidson argue it’s not fair
for the state to change the rules after they borrowed millions of dollars to
legally build or buy broadband networks.

“The state approved our debt and Salisbury’s debt,” Shows said. “To
retroactively go back and change that is simply unfair. Municipal broadband
operations must be run like a business, and like a business, either they’re
growing or dying.”

[image: Chapel Hill Logo]Chapel Hill has joined the list of communities
showing concern about how H129 will damage their long term plan to build the
essential infrastructure for their digital
future<http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/03/bill_to_block_town_broadband>.

The town is trimming trees to make way for fiber optic cable, primarily so
it can be used for traffic signals. The town plans for the cable to
eventually connect town buildings and the wider community with high speed
Internet.

But with the possibility of the broadband bill passing, Kleinschmidt said
the cable might not be used to its full potential.

“The worst case scenario is that the fiber optic cable will only be used for
our traffic signal and its full use will never be tapped,” he said. “The
best case scenario is also using it for municipal services too, but even
that could be at risk.”

Chapel Hill has been opportunistically adding fiber assets as opportunities
arise and having a discussion about whether it wants to create a town-wide
publicly owned network. This bill will take that decision out of their hands
-- a bunch of politicians in Raleigh will decide for them, after taking a
ton of campaign donations from Time Warner Cable and other incumbent telecom
companies.

For those who are curious, Chapel Hill is currently doing what a number of
other communities have done, adding
fiber-optic<http://www.muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term10>connections
to run traffic signals. As long as the fiber is going in, they
might as well get more use out of it and are planning to leverage it over
time… if the Legislature doesn't tell them to but out of TWC's exclusive
club.
  Link:
Some Resolutions Passed by North Carolina Communities Against
H129<http://www.muninetworks.org/content/greensboro-passes-resolution-against-time-warner-cable-bill-north-carolina>
 Link:
Our ongoing coverage of H 129<http://www.muninetworks.org/taxonomy/term/564>

Source:http://www.muninetworks.org/content/salisburys-neighbors-state-legislature-dont-kill-our-fibrant-dreams

-- 
Ben West
me at benwest.name
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