I stumbled across an interesting article about a small community in Illinois - Rochelle - that has used smart public investments to ensure a healthy future. Their utility has long offered broadband, both fast connections to businesses and Wi-Fi to ensure everyone had some method of access.

Just as they now have a city-owned utility offering broadband, they also have a public power company... and a city-owned railroad track connecting to other lines... and a publicly owned airport. All of this public ownership doesn't seem to have the town in an uproar over some "public v. private" ideological dispute -- because it has generated so many jobs and community benefits.

This is another example of how the "public v. private" distinction in telecommunications is mislabeled. It should be called "AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and a few others v. everyone else." The entire private sector benefits from smart public investments in infrastructure, minus a few monopolistic telcos who could very well also benefit if they would work with us.