Minnesota’s own Christopher Mitchell was on Democracy Now this morning talking about municipal/community networks with Amy Goodman and Catharine Rice, President of the SouthEast Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors and community broadband advocate. Here is a good description of the show from the Democracy Now website (video archive is also available; broadband topics starts about minute 48):
As many as one in 10 Americans cannot get Internet connections fast enough for common online activities such as watching video. Many communities have responded to this digital divide by creating their own municipal broadband networks as an alternative to the slow services offered by cable and telephone companies in order to gain equal access to education, health care and even jobs. One example of success is a Thomasville, Georgia, which has been connecting people for more than a decade. But these efforts could soon be blocked. Some 19 states have passed laws to stop these communities from making such investments, and Georgia could be next. We are joined by Chris Mitchell, director of the Telecommunications as Commons Initiative, of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. He recently co-authored a report, “The Empire Lobbies Back: How National Cable and DSL Companies Banned The Competition in North Carolina.” Catharine Rice is the President of the SouthEast Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, which represents Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. She led the effort to block an industry-sponsored on municipal broadband investment in North Carolina, which passed last year after Republicans came to power in the state, including a longtime friend of the Koch brothers, Art Pope, who is now the governor’s budget director.
Chris spoke about benefits of community owned and operated broadband connectivity in terms of providing choice to communities with providers that do not meet community need. As he points out there are 342 communities that provide some level of connectivity and community networks seem to offer next generation speeds, typically at lower rates.
It was also an opportunity to unveil a new tool – the Community Broadband Map. It shows the areas and communities that have community network activity and barriers. The interactive map highlights communities with gigabit speeds, stimulus funding, dark fiber, and citywide broadband options.
Just last week I was in a meeting in Hinckley where I heard incumbent providers ask attendees to name one successful municipal network. It was a funny questions since the attendees were community leaders not broadband experts and therefore probably could name neither a success nor a failed attempt. Hopefully tools like this will arm community leaders with more information and more choices.