Study: Neb. Should Allow Muni Services

STUDY: NEBRASKA SHOULD ALLOW MUNI SERVICES
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
Nebraska should rescind or modify a law that bars municipal utilities from offering broadband services, according to a report written by the school of law at New York University to a legislative committee studying the impact of the law. Commercial operators have failed to reach 7.4% of Nebraska towns, or 43% of rural Nebraska, with high-speed-data connections such as cable modems or digital-subscriber-line service, according to the report. It suggested that cities, using Wi-Max or broadband-over-power-line (BPL) technology, could reach those homes if the state restrictions were lifted. The report -- backed by groups such as the Center for Rural Affairs, Nebraska Common Cause, the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, the Rural Policy Research Institute, Free Press and Media Access Project -- has been issued to influence a legislative committee formed when the law was passed in 2005. The broadband recommendation report was written by attorneys with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU’s School of Law. It concluded that satellite-delivered Internet access is available via products such as WildBlue Inc. and Hughes Network Systems’ DirecWay, but it added that the price points for these services are too high to make them a viable broadband option for most rural families. Those services cost $1,000 in installation and service fees the first year and $600 for subsequent years, according to the report. The report concluded that municipal Wi-Max -- a wireless technology that can enable connections within 30 miles of its microwave transmitters -- or municipal BPL could fill in the state’s gaps in high-speed-data delivery.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6337843.html?display=Breaking+News