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Let them have broadband
Telecom giants unfairly block local efforts to gain high-speed links.
USA Today Editorial
07/19/2005
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050719/edit19.art.htm
Keeping an eye on the weather is part of what Elizabeth Wynes does as
office manager of a window hardware company in Alderson, W. Va. The
company's only Internet connection is through satellite, and a storm can
disrupt customer communications.
In villages, towns and small cities that lack high-speed Internet
connections, that is a common plight. Only about 10%-20% of those living in
rural areas have access to speedy broadband connections through cable or
telephone companies, according to various estimates. Satellite connections,
with delayed responses and some uplink speeds nearly as slow as dial-up,
aren't a satisfying solution to many rural residents.
At stake is far more than downloading music or playing video games at full
speed. Increasingly, high-speed links are a lifeline to the new economy.
The telecommunications companies say they have little incentive to deliver
costly broadband connections to sparsely populated areas, and from a
business perspective, they're right. What's less understandable is why
those companies fight to prevent people in rural areas from wiring themselves.
In Lafayette, La., Atlanta-based BellSouth has fought the city's plan to
sell bonds to finance its own broadband system. The legal battle has cost
the city $500,000. On Saturday the voters spoke, approving the bond sale
62%-38%.
Similar legal skirmishes are under way in at least 14 other communities,
and telecommunications companies have persuaded a dozen state legislators
to put on the brakes.
Despite the threat, scores of rural counties and small cities are moving
ahead. In Chaska, Minn., a Minneapolis suburb, residents are offered
wireless Internet access for $16 a month. In Utah, 18 cities are banding
together to build their own high-speed network.
Telecommunications companies make two arguments against such efforts:
Unfair competition. No private company can compete against
taxpayer-sponsored Internet systems, they say.
But for the most part, communities push ahead on their own only after the
private companies fail to meet their needs. No mayor would survive spending
local bond money to build an unnecessary network.
Most of the country already has broadband access. New data from the
Federal Communications Commission show that 99% of Americans live in zip
codes with high speed connections, note the companies.
That ignores millions in those zip codes who have either no broadband or
slow broadband.
Anne Whitaker, a high-tech consultant who lives in Huntingtown, Md., is one
of them. She needs a high-speed connection to do her job, but the phone
company says her house falls outside its network. The cable company says
Whitaker would have to pay about $2,600 to bring in cable.
Not surprisingly, she and other residents are exploring whether to form a
network. They, like the residents of Lafayette, just want companies that
aren't interested in serving them to stay out of the way.
It's not much to ask.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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