The December 2008, issue of Broadband Properties features an article that offers advice to incoming President Obama regarding broadband policy. Some of the comments center around community networks. Tim Nulty makes three preliminary points:

1. Wireless is a supplement, not a substitute
2. Access to fiber networks is key to full participation in society
3. Optical fiber is the most perfect natural monopoly ever invented

Building on these points, he says:

Points 1, 2 and 3 mean we have no choice but to put the government directly and unapologetically into the picture… just as we do with other basic public utilities such as water, police, education and fire protection. This runs directly counter to the recent policy, under which optical fiber systems have been steadily removed from regulation covering the key issues of universal coverage and common carriage (referred to these days as “network neutrality”). These same issues have been fought over in other arenas such as toll roads, the postal service, canals, railroads, airwaves and the telephone since the founding of the Republic. The issues are not new at all! Only the technology of optical networks is new.

I offered a number of priorities:

1. No federal policy should preempt the right of communities to build their own networks
2. The feds should prevent states from preempting community authority to build their own networks
3. Feds should provide low-interest financing for public networks
4. Feds should provide grants to networks that are open-access

Finally, Wes Rosenbalm, the President and CEO of Bristol Virginia Utilities offered a short piece explaining why barriers to publicly owned broadband must be lifted. To find these gems and more, read the article linked below.

NATOA, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, comprises many people who are in, and work on, community broadband networks. Whether they are dealing with cable-company owned I-Nets or citizen owned networks, one of their jobs is to make sure the community has the network it needs.

Starting this year, NATOA has made its publication, the NATOA Journal, available to everyone, not just members. This will be a great resource for community broadband information.

This issue has important articles - from an in-depth comparison of the physical properties of copper and fiber to less technical arguments by Tim Nulty and myself. Tim Nulty wrote "Fiber to the User as a Public Utility."

He advances a number of important arguments:

• Universal - everyone should have access at affordable rates
• Open Access - it must encourage competition, not stifle it
• Future Proof - the technology must be built to last and meet needs currently unforeseen
• Financial self sufficiency - this can be done and the political culture suggests it must be done

He then delves into the problems Burlington Telecom faced, how it resolved those problems, and some of the strengths of their approach. He also offers some details on his new project - East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network.

My "Community Owned Networks Benefit Everyone" makes the case that only publicly owned networks can offer true competition in the broadband market because private network owners will not open their networks to other providers. Facilities-based competition is a policy that encourages monopoly or duopoly throughout most of America.

However, I also argue that public ownership, and the accountability that comes with it, may be more important than competition in cases where the community chooses that model. As always, we stand up for the right of communities to choose their future and to take responsibility for their choices.

Other important articles in this issue discuss the...