Sources the legislature say the House Public Utilities Committee is poised to go back on a decision they made last month and send S1004, the N.C. Senate's version of the anti-muni broadband being pushed by the telecom industry, straight to the Revenue Laws Study Committee instead of sending it for study before the Joint Legislative Committee on High Speed Internet in Rural Areas as the Public Utilities Committee.
In practical terms, that means the bill is more likely to get a favorable vote and could go before the full chamber for a vote sometime this session.
Jay Ovittore, a Greensboro blogger with StoptheCap.com, is attempting to rally opponents of the bill, whose
"This has nothing to do with the State's revenue laws," said in an e-mail to the Independent. "It makes sense that it be placed in the Joint Legislative Committee on High Speed Internet in Rural Areas, where the real issues of accessibility, speed and affordability can be addressed. Anything less is a travesty to the citizens to which are legislators are beholden to."
Municipal Broadband is becoming more of a necessity because the current providers refuse to upgrade their infrastructure to technology that is found in this century worldwide. We will continue to fall behind in healthcare, education and commerce at the speeds at which we move currently. If we want to compete, we must first compete with the high-speeds the rest of the world moves at. Most other developed countries have speeds at least 4 to 5 times the speeds we move at. Japan is at 160 mbps compared to our 10mbps. South Korea will be at 1 gbps by 2012, 100 times faster. For our states very survival, we need someone to step up and upgrade our broadband access and speed, municipalities are very capable and, more importantly, very willing to provide this step towards the future. All the while, our current providers like to live on their gross profits in the past.
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