Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston)
Remember the battles against the big telecoms in the state to keep the cities’ right to own and operate their own Internet service? It’s time for round three, courtesy of Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston). He’s pushing a bill, S.1209 (the so-called “No Nonvoted Debt for Competing System” Act), that will hamstring North Carolina municipal Internet projects into using only general obligation bonds. Not only will this hurt municipal Internet projects, it will prevent initiatives such as Google’s 1 Gb fiber Internet. Bye bye, Google Fiber!
Previous attempts by Time Warner Cable, AT&T, CenturyLink (Embarq), and others tried to make the case that municipal Internet should not use taxpayer money. Now they’re saying these systems should use only taxpayer money, not the revenue bonds that they currently use. I think it shows their real motive is to block competition, sewing up Internet for themselves. With governments sidelined, they will be free to impose caps on Internet service, killing competition from video services such as NetFlix. The public loses.
Municipal Internet, on the other hand, is open and low-cost. Multiple providers could ride the light of city-owned fiber optics, much the same way as many commercial businesses ride the city’s roads. Also gone would be the selective provisioning that commercial providers use now, where the most affluent citizens get served first. Wilson’s Greenlight brought 10 Mb fiber Internet to every one of its citizens, bridging the digital divide like no commercial provider ever would. Oddly enough, when Time Warner Cable raised their cable rates sharply in December on most of their statewide systems, their rates in Wilson remained the same. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
Don’t be fooled by Hoyle’s talk that this is purely a revenue issue or a jobs issue, because it’s not. He’s right that it is about competition: it’s all about eliminating competition. Hoyle is selling out the digital future of North Carolina for a few quick campaign bucks.
Fortunately, you can help head this off. Hoyle’s bill will be presented for a vote in the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday at 1 PM. You still have time to call your state senator and urge them to vote no on S.1209. Only if our representatives hear the message loud and clear from their constituents will they do the right thing. Please look up your senator and give them a call today.
Also, your presence at the meeting will also go a long way. If you can’t be there, however, you can listen in as North Carolina’s digital future is decided by clicking here.
North Carolina ranks 41st in the nation for broadband service, according to the Census bureau. Clearly the incumbent, monopolistic telecoms aren’t getting it done. If you’re as mad about this as I am, make your voice heard now and keep our Internet options open.
We don’t need more red tape. We need open, high-speed broadband!
Let me ask a question…
Let’s say I lived in Wilson and I wanted internet service. Do I have to use Greenlight or can I use another carrier? Are other carriers allowed in or not? I’m not starting a fight here, I’m just curious.
Yes, you can choose Wilson’s Greenlight system, Time Warner Cable’s, or CenturyLink’s.
So, just out of curiosity, I looked up Sen. Hoyle’s campaign finance report (http://www.app.sboe.state.nc.us/cf_pdf/2009/20100201_80574.pdf), and Time Warner is indeed the largest single contributor, having kicked in $4,000 in the second half of 2009, for a total of $6,000 in the current election cycle. That’s out of $106K received in the current cycle.
I meant to point out in my previous post that 2010 contributions have not yet been reported to the board of elections (nor, since Sen Hoyle is not running in the current election cycle, are they required to be reported until July 30th).
He just wants a donation from Carolina cities; he’s a champion of free enterprise.