More on: PA Bill

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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 edu
Subject: 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 the
conduit 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, particularly
Montreal have adopted this model. They have won high praise from both 
the
incumbents and new entrants for this approach.  As a big cost of
deploying 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

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