Phoenix Center chief economist George Ford has taken issue with a story in The Tennessean newspaper in which Chattanooga, Tenn., Mayor Andy Berke touted the economic benefits of its municipal fiber network.
A federal appeals court recently rejected the FCC‘s preemption of a Tennessee state law limiting the expansion of that city network, but the story preceded that decision and made no mention of it. Continue reading
WASHINGTON August 11, 2010- The Alabama town of Opelika has decided to set up its own cable television and internet network.
The town voted in a referendum aimed at providing some competition to Charter Communications; the town’s only ISP.
Santa Monica is making their excess fiber work for them to drive economic development and put money back into their general fund. They receive over $1 million in revenue per year just leasing dark fiber to a few institutions. Imaging how much they could be earning with a community-wide infrastructure.
DOWNTOWN — Something runs underneath Santa Monica. Something dark. Something that reaches into City Hall, into schools, into hospitals, into office buildings.
But this dark something isn’t exactly menacing. In fact, it’s meant to help the city be technologically advanced and attract businesses to locate here.
City Hall has been leasing its dark fiber to local businesses for four years with the intention of attracting businesses to locate here in order to spur economic development. The revenue from the leasing has then gone toward providing free public wireless internet.
