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More on: PA Bill
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 06:08:44 -0500
U, for one, would love a major point analysis of the bill the Gov. signed. djf
Begin forwarded message: From: "Bill St. Arnaud" <bill.st.arnaud () canarie ca> Date: December 2, 2004 3:13:09 PM EST To: dave () farber net Cc: faulhaber () law upenn eduSubject: RE: [IP] More on: Rendell caves and signs HB30 - Verizon can prevent municipal networks statewide
Reply-To: bill.st.arnaud () canarie ca Dave: I have to agree 100% with Professor Faulhaber on this one. Although a lot of people think that I and/or CANARIE have been big advocates of municipal networks such as the Philadelphia WiFi, in fact nothing can be further from the truth. However, we do believe cities have an important role in accelerating the roll out of broadband, but it should not be in creating a public funded facility that competes directly with the private sector. If the city fathers are genuinely interested in accelerating broadband rollout they should try to stimulate competition and create a level playing field.The one way they can do this is to build out conduit and/or dark fiber on
a NON-EXCLUSIVE basis throughout the city. This will significantly reduce the costs for small competitive wireless and other providers to deliver services to their customers. But the conduit/dark fiber can also be used by the incumbent to reach their customers as well.More importantly it will bring in new revenues to the city and reduce the number of "serial rippers" who tear up our streets to lay down new fiber.
But it is important to stress that the conduit/dark fiber be non-exclusive. If the city tries to charge too much for the use of theconduit or dark fiber, companies should have the freedom to lay their own conduit and fiber under current PUC and FCC regulations. But if the city
prices access to the conduit and fiber correctly, then it will be a no-brainer for most companies to purchase access from the city. As I mentioned in a previous posting many Canadian cities, particularlyMontreal have adopted this model. They have won high praise from both the
incumbents and new entrants for this approach. As a big cost ofdeploying a network is in the capital cost of digging up the roads it has
enabled small entrepreneurial wireless and other providers to compete on a level playing field with the incumbents Bill --------- Bill.St.Arnaud () canarie ca +1.613.944.5603 ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- More on: PA Bill David Farber (Dec 03)