Eat Your Fiber, San Francisco; Plus, Privacy

By Glenn Flieshamn (2.8.09)
http://wifinetnews.com/archives/007380.html

There is a call among some San Francisco groups to replace the incoming muni Wi-Fi with fiber.

More evidence that people recognize Wi-Fi is a supporting element rather than reliable infrastrucutre.

Public Net San Francisco wants the Earthlink deal to be canceled in favor of a publicly owned fiber network that would reach every home. SFLan’s Ralf Muehlen said, “300 kilobits per second is so 1997; it’ll be utterly ridiculous in 2023, which is how long Earthlink’s monopoly will last.” The ACLU also has issues with the privacy aspects of the Earthlink deal. The organization wants more limits and less ambiguity about what information is collected.

Provo Broadband Stumbles

Steven Titch (2.1.07)
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20537

After only two years, the municipal broadband system in Provo, Utah has begun to show the pattern of losses and declining net asset value experienced by other cities that have mounted expensive fiber optic networking projects, according to a report published by the Reason Foundation in December.

iProvo, the $39.5 million system launched in July 2004, has had to request $1 million in additional funds from the Provo electric utility to meet its costs.

The report made four principal findings, all of which tend to be endemic to municipal systems:

• iProvo is behind on its business plan and being forced to borrow more money.

• iProvo’s wholesale plan attracted only one retail partner, HomeNet Communications, in its first year of operation. That relationship proved a disaster that ended with HomeNet pulling out of the market in July 2005 and declaring bankruptcy.
  

• Cable and Internet prices charged by iProvo partners are not significantly lower than pricing from Comcast or Qwest.

• There is little evidence to suggest iProvo has generated any significant growth in broadband usage or penetration in Provo.

While iProvo pointed to revenues of $2.1 million in fiscal year 2006, numbers that were available after principal research had been completed on the Reason report, it did concede losses “were larger than expected.” The municipal utility lists several reasons for the shortfall, stating that processes took longer to set up than anticipated, construction began later, transport fees were lower than expected, the retail partner failed, and the customer mix did not meet forecasts.

Municipalities, however, tend to run into these factors, in part because they function as an arm of local government, not under the market demands of a commercial company. Seven issues that are likely to be significant in municipal provision of Internet service are price competition, performance competition, the pressure for continuous improvement, technological change, obsolescence, risk, and uncertainty.

Localizng the Internet: 5 Ways Public Ownership Solves the U.S. Internet Problem

By Becco Vargo Daggit, Institute for Self Reliance
http://www.newrules.org/info/5ways.pdf

This 32 page document, Localizing the Internet, outlines the benefits of publicly owned fiber lines. It summarizes quickly both pre and post-Telecommunications Act of 1996 regulations, the basics of broadband techology, the risks involved, and case studies of successful implementation of public owned fiber.

Their 5 arguments for public ownership are:

1. High-speed information networks are essential public infrastructure.
2. Public ownership ensures competition.
3. Publicly owned networks can generate significant revenue.
4. Public ownership can ensure universal access.
5. Public ownership can ensure non-discriminatory networks.