No city-based broadband bill
Last Thursday, In Fact Daily (Austin frets about impact of bill on WiFi) reported on House Bill 789 that is meant to to stop cities from getting into the competitive broadband market.
“I’m thinking of a particular city, and I won’t mention a name, that was looking at offering broadband over power line service for a fee in a city that was already offering SBC DSL service,” Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) said. “What we’re struggling with is wanting to prevent cities from directly competing from with the private sector where those services were going to be provided by the private sector.”
The City of Austin was concerned about the bill because as it is written now, it would also outlaw municipal wireless “hotspots.” King explained that was not his intention.
My question is this: Why should we outlaw cities from offering competitive broadband if they are equipped to do so? It is not illegal for a city to offer competitive electric power. Why is internet access different? It seems that the more providers that are in a market, the more competitive it becomes and in the end, is better for the consumer.
Ah… yes, that must be it. This bill isn’t about the consumer.