Despite the heat of the issue in 2005, much of the tech industry has shied from taking firm positions on whether municipalities should be allowed by states to operate broadband networks (be they wireline or wireless).
A Senate bill (S. 1294) has Intel's Communications Policy Director Peter Pitsch speaking out as reported by Technology Daily (subscription) and reposted by Red Herring:
"(the bill) strikes an appropriate balance between pre-empting state prohibitions on the municipalities that provide broadband service and requiring municipalities to operate in a competitively neutral manner under open, transparent processes."
The bill is being pushed by Senators John McCain, R-Arizona, and Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey. It would guarantee cities the right to build and run digital communications infrastructures, including broadband networks.
PC World notes the opposition:
U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, recently introduced H.R. 2726, a bill that would ban cities from running communications networks that compete against private-sector telecom companies. Sessions, a former SBC executive, argued local governments should not compete with private companies.
He and other opponents of municipal broadband argue that almost half of Internet households have broadband that is getting faster and cheaper over time. Building more networks, opponents say, not only threatens private enterprise but wastes taxpayer dollars.
[The PC World story gives an interesting perspective of localities that both want muni broadband and those who regret it. The inherent byeond-the-rhetoric complexities mentioned are what is seemingly preventing other tech firms from joining Intel on the issue, to date].
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