Setting the record straight on the North Carolina level playing field bill

[Commentary] North Carolina’s Level Playing Field / Local Government Competition Bill is not just about broadband. It’s about government competing in a variety of businesses—cable TV, telephone, Internet access—anything that can be offered by a business over a wire. Second, and more importantly, North Carolina’s bill does not “prohibit” cities from competing against private providers -- it only sets ground rules if they do.

This is necessary because there are no rules currently. This means that cities have been free to discriminate against private business, they have been free to cross-subsidize competition with monopoly utility revenues, they have been free to incur debt without taxpayer approval, and they have been free to subsidize their competition through tax exemptions not available to private industry. Has any of this actually happened in North Carolina? You bet. None of the cities in North Carolina have provided broadband to people that didn't already have it. Clearly there are some areas in North Carolina, like every state, that do not have adequate broadband service because there is not a business case for providing service in those areas. As the North Carolina General Assembly has taken the important step of clarifying the circumstances under which cities can enter the market to provide a service already being provided, hopefully the General Assembly, private industry, and public officials can now have a discussion about working together to extend service to areas that don't have it.

[Trathen is with the North Carolina Cable and Telecommunications Association]