Better conduit policy and One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) are two approaches seeing the state legislative limelight recently. With local examples to offer guidance, a few state lawmakers are attempting to implement similar rules. State Governments Follow Local Leads Local communities know their needs best and are best poised to make local decisions. Some have used new conduit policies like in Mount … Read More
With this bill’s passage, the Tennessee General Assembly will likely not pass any other broadband legislation during this session. The Broadband Accessibility Act won’t improve Tennessee’s rating as 29th in Internet connectivity, but it will do a great job of lining AT&T’s pockets. As we’ve tracked throughout the session, there are a number of bills worth supporting that would actually increase connectivity and allow municipalities to take part in their own broadband future.… Read More
A new Pew Research Center survey reveals that 70 percent of adults, regardless of political leanings, believe local governments should be able to invest in municipal Internet networks. Local Authority Has No Party The survey, conducted March 13 – 27 supports the finding that local authority for telecommunications decisions is a bipartisan notion. On closer examination … Read More
Tennessee has long been a thorn in the side of our broadband policy research team, thanks in large part to a pair of realities. 1) Chattanooga, Tenn. has some of the best connectivity in the world thanks to its municipal broadband network and 2) there’s a restrictive state law that disables municipalities from investing in their connectivity. Motherboard Vice‘s Jason Koebler discussed this trend and recent legislative action with Christopher Mitchell.… Read More
Recently released research from Pew delves into a question of interest to those following our broadband research team, what do Americans think about municipally owned Internet access and investments in better Internet connectivity? In his story for the Washington Post, Brian Fung reached out to our broadband expert Christopher Mitchell for his expertise.… Read More
When Alabama State Sen. Tom Whatley from Auburn spoke with OANow in late March, he described his bill, SB 228, as a “go-to-war bill.” The bill would have allowed Opelika Power Services (OPS) to expand its Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) services to his community. On Wednesday, April 5th, his colleagues in the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee decided … Read More
Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems allow utility systems to gather and analyze real time data. The computer system reduces outages, keeps the utilities running efficiently, and allows staff to know where problems arise. Municipal utilities that use SCADA systems are increasingly taking the next step – using the fiber-optic infrastructure that supports SCADA to … Read More
“Monopoly” may be a fun family night activity, but if you live in a place where you have little or no choice for Internet access, it’s not fun and it’s not a game. According to FCC data, most families don’t have a choice in Internet access providers, especially providers they like. Nevertheless, the biggest companies keep … Read More
In the wake of an unbelievably disappointing vote in Congress to allow monopoly ISPs to sell customer’s data, Minnesota is stepping up and passing their own privacy protections. Karl Bode, writing for DSL Reports, reached out to Christopher Mitchell for his thoughts.… Read More
