Community Broadband Media Roundup - April 19

California

How we can close California's digital divide by Kish Rajan, TechWire

Santa Cruz public high-speed Internet project earns early jump-start by Jessica A. York, Santa Cruz Sentinel

Cruzio and Santa Cruz economic development officials are in the midst of talks to build a gigabit fiber-optic communications network, infrastructure designed to connect some 22,000 city properties. The citywide Santa Cruz Fiber project, requiring as much as a $52 million, 30-year city revenue bond to fund, is still years in the making. The proposal’s premise is that Cruzio would pay the city a set fee for every household and customer who opts in for gigabit service, paying off the city bond. If at the end of the term, Cruzio was unable to pay the full bond amount based on new customer accounts, the company would guarantee coverage of at least 80 percent of the bond. Under the proposed plan, subscribers would pay an estimated $60 to $75 a month for the service, though more subscribers would mean lower overall monthly bills, officials said.

Santa Cruz, Calif., deploys fiber-like wireless gigabit Internet through public-private partnership by Julia McCandless, GovTech

Minnesota

Minnesota will get it right on broadband by Jim Kohlenberger, Duluth News Tribune

New York

"Dig Once" approach to city infrastructure aims to tackle multiple systems, minimize disruption by Scott Willis, WAER

Ohio

Fairlawn, OH, to start FairlawnGig gigabit broadband project by LightWave Online

Tennessee

Internet service monopolies in rural Tennessee by Brian Bradford, Chattanoogan

Outdated laws in Tennessee, often touted as “protecting competition” are obviously thinly veiled tools to protect what are essentially monopolies.

In fact, these laws are obstacles to real free market competition. 

These laws are fiercely protected by the monopolies who underserve or refuse to serve Tennesseans who often reside only a few feet from the monopoly’s existing lines. 

General

Gigabites: EPB plans for 100-Gig by Mari Silbey, LightReading

Fate of municipal broadband in court by Dan Stepanichic, RegBlog

As ISPs push harder on usage caps, House pushes bill preventing the FCC from doing anything about it by Karl Bode, Tech Dirt

In recent weeks, we've noted how ISPs are now moving beyond broadband usage caps and overage fees, and have begun charging users a $30-$35 premium if they want to avoid usage caps entirely. While the industry often dresses this up as everything from "improved flexibility and choice" to something necessary for the sake of fairness, it is, quite simply, an aggressive rate hike on uncompetitive markets. Users are being socked with dramatic new limits and fees -- simply because most have no real competitors to flee to. 

Entirely uncoincidentally, the House is now pushing for new legislation that would hamstring the FCC's ability to regulate broadband rates. The "No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act" (pdf) is set to be debated this week in Congress, and would, according to a press release by the Energy and Commerce Committee, prevent the FCC from regulating rates charged for broadband Internet, "just as the administration promised when they reclassified access to the Internet as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act." 

White House threatens veto of GOP's anti-net neutrality bill by Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica

White House threaten veto of GOP bill gutting net neutrality by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Image of the Cowboy Beagle courtesy of Sid through a creative commons license.