[News] Mayor quits FCC committee, says it favors ISPs over the public interest

[StyM]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...wned-networks/

One working group, which did not have a single municipal representative among its 30+ participants, created a draft model state code that included provisions to eliminate all municipal control over when, how, and whether to accept industry applications for infrastructure deployment. Another working group had an industry representative dramatically re-write its draft municipal code in the 11th hour, pushing aside the product of months of the working group?s deliberations. The result, in each case, were provisions that plainly prioritized industry interests.

It has become abundantly clear that, despite the good intentions of several participants, the industry-heavy makeup of BDAC will simply relegate the body to being a vehicle for advancing the interests of the telecommunications industry over those of the public. The apparent goal is to create a set of rules that will provide industry with easy access to publicly-funded infrastructure at taxpayer-subsidized rates, without any obligation to provide broadband access to underserved residents.

But the State also recognizes that in Rural areas the economics of building such networks may be economically less viable, relative to other areas of the State, such that private industry interest in deploying Broadband Facilities may not exist in a timeframe or at a price to the consumer that the municipality finds reasonably acceptable.

Private-led Investment with Public Assistance. In which a privately-owned entity constructs, maintains, and operates the Broadband network and the municipality assists by facilitating permitting, granting, and customer sign-ups and ensures that the Broadband service is not discriminatory in its service standards or areas served.

[drmrlordx]

Does anyone out there NOT know that the FCC has become a mouthpiece and strongarm for the telcos and cable companies?

The last time either body served the interest of the public was in the late 1990s when they started rolling out the first real-world DSL and DocSys implementations. Downside was that competition for ISPs died on the vine when phone modem ISPs could not keep up with companies that had the ability and public funding to build out wired broadband networks.

Now that competition is dead, they (telcos and cable cos) have no market incentive to serve rural areas or improve speeds/service in metro areas.

It ought to tell you that something is very, very wrong when the only way a town/city can get a meaningful service upgrade is to have the local government build out its own broadband network.