Could somebody please explain to me why, if local municipalities are willing to provide the service, and consumers/voters want it, the state and/or federal bureaucracies have any damn say in it??
What business is it of Albany or Washington if our individual communities find a way to a.) save money for individual households and b.) increase revenues at the same time?
Chattanooga's local government should be applauded.
I'm not a fan of government competing in truly competitive arenas, but internet access is NOT one of those arenas. For better or worse (definitely worse), various local governments over the years have granted "franchises" to one cable company or another, restricting access to the land within thei localities' boundaries to the one that paid.
Because of these "franchise rights", in the real world internet access does not fall in the realm of competition. Because of this, the local company has been taking advantage of their monopoly power and either overcharging or underperforming, just because they can. Localities creating their own broadband networks helps bring some sort of competition back in to the picture.
Could somebody please explain
Could somebody please explain to me why, if local municipalities are willing to provide the service, and consumers/voters want it, the state and/or federal bureaucracies have any damn say in it??
What business is it of Albany or Washington if our individual communities find a way to a.) save money for individual households and b.) increase revenues at the same time?
Chattanooga's local government should be applauded.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/09/17/how-chatta…
I'm not a fan of government
I'm not a fan of government competing in truly competitive arenas, but internet access is NOT one of those arenas. For better or worse (definitely worse), various local governments over the years have granted "franchises" to one cable company or another, restricting access to the land within thei localities' boundaries to the one that paid.
Because of these "franchise rights", in the real world internet access does not fall in the realm of competition. Because of this, the local company has been taking advantage of their monopoly power and either overcharging or underperforming, just because they can. Localities creating their own broadband networks helps bring some sort of competition back in to the picture.