In Orwellian fashion, many of the examples offered as disasters are actually tremendous success stories. Many of the figures used as contemporary evidence against municipal broadband are based on case studies of cable television systems from a report that is seven years old. Even if it were still timely, its conclusions have been thoroughly debunked.
North Carolina Bill to Limit Broadband Competition Moves Forward
Update: Thanks to Mark Turner (@mtdotnet) for tape-delayed tweets updating what happened. He has reported: "Senator Joe Sam Queen objects to third reading of S.1209! It remains on the calendar!" This can still be stopped in the Senate. End Update
Update 2: Thanks to Senator Queen for his crucial objection, delaying passage today. His motivation for opposing this bill so strongly? His communities have been ignored by the private sector:
"They’re just frustrated that it’s not getting done by the cable companies, the network companies, whoever’s doing it. They’re just cherrypicking and leaving off so many of our citizens, and that’s just unacceptable."
Both Senator Queen and Senator Purcell should be thanked for their opposition to this handout to cable and telephone companies.
End Update 2
Despite the efforts of so many folks in North Carolina, the bill to stop communities from building broadband networks (forcing them to rely on whatever the incumbent wants to deploy, if anything) has passed out of the Senate Finance Committee. The Direct Revenue Laws committee has to examine it, but it will soon make its way to the floor of the Senate for a full vote (it did, see updates above).
At this point, we still hope the session ends before this bill can be sent to the Governor. Before sending it to the Gov, it must pass the full Senate, several House Committees, and then the full House. So make sure all your representatives know your feelings on it, and encourage your local leaders to tell State leaders to defend the rights of communities to build their own infrastructure. Contact information is detailed on this post.
The bill has changed once again, as summarized by IndyWeek:
The bill's language was revised this past week to include a moratorium. If the bill becomes law, the moratorium would extend through August 2011 when the legislature's long session ends, thus buying the telecommunications companies time to flex their political muscle.
The moratorium carefully exempts current broadband systems like those built in Wilson and Salisbury, but affects cities that did not launch their own broadband feasibility study, before yesterday, June 1. Provisions of the revised bill include informing the industry (i.e., AT&T, Embarq, Time Warner Cable, etc.) when a city or town is considering creating its own system.
Also, according to Fiona Morgan, the bill would allow stimulus and Google projects. For those unfamiliar, Fiona's work is always worth reading in full.
The Senator pushing this legislation (Hoyle) has demonstrated cluelessness on multiple occasions (suggesting wireless will soon surpass fiber-optics, among others). He came through again on an exchange in committee (reported by IndyWeek):
Sen. William Purcell, a Democrat representing Anson, Richmond, Scotland, and Stanly counties had one question Sen. Hoyle: "What insurance do we have that the big companies supplying cable won't overlook the small less profitable markets and cities in N.C.?"
Hoyle casually replied: "The same reason small cities shouldn't get into the broadband business to begin with."
You can read that again if you want, but it is incoherent. Senator Hoyle clearly only sees Time Warner's position on this: they don't want to deal with upstart cities that think they should have modern infrastructure.
Meanwhile, in the House, Representative Bill Faison has advanced a bill to allow Caswell County to build its own broadband network. Listening to Senator Hoyle, one would think everyone in North Carolina has access to great broadband. In discussing Faison's bill, Stop the Cap reveals Hoyle's ignorance:
For Caswell County residents, it means the potential to finally get quality broadband service after years of broken promises from incumbent providers. Comcast of Danville, Virginia provides limited service, mostly in parts of Yanceyville, the county seat. AT&T offers limited DSL service, but not to several areas of the county. Those unlucky enough to be bypassed still rely mostly on dial-up.
This is the exact same tactic we see around the country now. Buttressed by false maps provided by industry groups like Connected Nation, some politicians are regularly arguing that there is no reason to allow communities to build their own networks because the private sector is doing a great job.
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Comments
Senators Hoyle and Clodfelter (D-Time Warner Cable)
I think it's becoming clear there is a game of divide and conquer going on in Raleigh these days over this bill. Clodfelter's hearts and flowers statement praising the backroom negotiations with the League of Municipalities and other players was only belied with his "crazies" comment that got out on that open microphone. Do you notice that among all of the groups represented in the "compromise" moratorium, there is one missing? CONSUMERS. But what else is new.
That's why its so critical for individuals in North Carolina to work the phones and e-mail and tell their representatives these kinds of bills will not be tolerated. Last year, we chased Ty Harrell down the halls of the Legislative Building over his embarrassing streetwalker-like advocacy for Time Warner Cable. When his constituents found out Time Warner wrote the bill he introduced, they melted down his phone lines (even with the Time Warner lobbyist the receptionist literally handed the phone to when one of our people called). He ended up repudiating his own bill. These guys don't think most consumers are paying attention to these issues and they can pull fast ones and nobody will know.
After Time Warner tried their experiment on Greensboro Road Runner customers last year, trust me, vigilant folks across the Triad know.
You and I know more about municipal broadband in North Carolina than Hoyle ever will, and I'm in Rochester, NY. He's the George W. Bush of broadband -- hellbent on believing he knows it all, even if he cannot say "fiber optic broadband." He knows what Time Warner, AT&T, and Embarq tells him.
Clodfelter is the guy whose been there too long and thinks he's above his lowly "crazy" constituents. He may like to think of himself as the adult in the room, but he's really just another shill for big telecom. We followed the money -- that's the only rule in politics you ever really need to know. They deny those contributions make a difference, but in my own journeys dealing with legislative branches, more than one aide has told me contributions make every difference in how much time and attention an issue gets.
When discussing rural broadband issues, the only people that really know are those representing rural consumers, and that's folks like Senator Queen. North central North Carolina is often in the same boat, like Yanceyville (the only community in NC barely served by Comcast -- but only because its coming from their office in Danville, north of the state line).
I intend to publish a whole boatload of videos on Stop the Cap! from actual North Carolina residents describing the all-too-real problem of broadband in NC. It's near the bottom among 50 states in broadband access. With that statistic, it doesn't take too long to build an enormous collection of video to work with.
It looks like the Senate is a done deal for this nonsense, at least from how Brian Bowman sees it. So we'll probably take our "crazy" consumers to the House side and melt down their phone lines for a change.
Phillip Dampier
Stop the Cap!
Great!
I fear what would be happening in North Carolina with the hard work of folks like Philip and Jay, putting so much time into advocating directly for consumers. I want to second Philip's comment that the consumer voice is totally missing in the "compromise" bill and this is what we have seen elsewhere.
The League of Cities is often an ally of ours (on community broadband), but they have different interests and a larger obligation that can interfere with an issue like broadband alone. When the rubber meets the road, we need people to call their reps rather than hoping some other group will do the lobbying.
I hope the House lines are indeed melted with calls from constituents.
I have dealt with various
I have dealt with various League groups for 20 years as well -- League of Cities, NATOA, and other groups that work on municipal telecom issues. Back then it was on home satellite dishowner rights for consumers, as well as municipal cable, wireless, and other telecom systems.
They are a natural ally, but they ultimately do not represent consumers. Under no circumstances should people believe these groups will take care of our interests. If Clodfelter's intemperate remarks caught by that live microphone are true, it was the League, working with other interests, that fashioned this compromise which sacrifices consumer interests for political expediency.
Now I don't think that makes them the enemy, but unless North Carolina residents melt down those legislator phone lines and stuff those e-mail boxes, they can't afford to take a bolder stand even if I personally wish they would.
Frankly, the biggest problem I've had with progressive thinkers on broadband issues (and others) is their cave-in and compromise mentality. The other side does neither. When you sign on board these things, it sends a message that you approve of the plan and that is what causes lopsided votes like that in the Senate. It also muddies your message and sets a precedent for folks like Clodfelter to return next year and proclaim "but you were so reasonably adult last year, so why can't you be so this year and do what the phone and cable companies want?"
This weekend, I assure you the big telecom interests are developing talking points for the House side that will put in big letters, "but the cities are on board, so how could you not vote for this?"
They have a point.
Compromises
I don't disagree with you, but at the same time, I recognize the reality that League of Munis is not League of Muni Telecom. I don't know how the arm twisting went, so I don't know why they agreed to this horrid "compromise."
The other side does not have to compromise because for all intents and purposes, they have a ton of access and cash, giving them tons of power so they don't have to compromise. We don't have that, so we have to melt the phone lines.
I hope I haven't suggested that this bill is anything less than a disaster for broadband in North Carolina. It is. But I recognize the interests of League of Munis is not the interest of consumers (and not meant to be) so I think we both agree on that. In my writing, I strive to educate people as to why they are getting screwed and steps they can take to stop it (which you also do quite well). When I try to explain why I think something happened and why some act in a certain way, I am not giving it my stamp of approval.
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