Re: Muni fiber: L1 or L2?

[Dan Armstrong <dan () beanfield com>]

I don't have specific data to point you to.  I am speaking from my experience, in large cities.  Totally different 
story in rural or suburban areas.

In general, if a municipality builds an L1 or L2 network it removes so many barriers of competition  that  many idiots 
get into the business.   The consumer ends up suffering, because the market is overwhelmed with inferior products.  The 
few that do things 'right' get lost in the sea of bottom feeders looking for a quick buck.   Unlike a hamburger, or a 
t-shirt - telecom is a complex product that most consumers are unable to appreciate the details of.  They aren't going 
to educate themselves on the nuances of quality, so the people offering a better product have no way of getting ahead 
in this near-perfect competitive situation.

A city government benefits from economic prosperity, which comes from businesses within it's boundaries being 
prosperous.  Access to great telecom services is one factor in that prosperity.  That is the business model for a 
municipality to want good telecom.  

A municipality can lease out conduits, for a small fee - there is still a reasonable barrier to entry.  People have to 
pull cable, splice it, manage it, light it, sell it, and do all the stuff a telco has to do before they receive 
revenue.  This filters out (most) of the opportunists… but makes it easy enough for entrepreneurs with a great idea to 
get started without having to come up with billions of $ in capital to open-trench the streets in the entire city.   In 
the case of a growing municipality, if they play their cards right they can pay for the entire conduit system from 
development fees collected from land or re-zoning deals, which furthers the virtuous circle of growth.









On 2013-01-31, at 10:18 PM, Eric Brunner-Williams <brunner () nic-naa net> wrote:

> On 1/31/13 6:28 PM, Dan Armstrong wrote:
> > But the most successful municipal undertaking to support telecom I have ever seen is a municipally owned conduit 
> > system…. 
>
> Could you be a bit more specific? What is the muni, and where can the
> business model data be found?
>
> Also, what was the muni's ROW compensation prior to doing the
> right-of-way buildout, and after?
>
> Eric