Ben Franske is a professor of Information Technology and Security at Inver Hills Community College. MinnPost published a recent article from him that sounds like a strong endorsement for a government-owned Open Access Model for broadband…

We have also tried to spur network improvements by giving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits and incentives to existing private telecommunications companies through the National Information Infrastructure program. This broken promise by incumbent carriers for ultra-high speed connections throughout the country years ago has still not been seen. Clearly waiting for the incumbent providers to do something on their own or even providing substantial incentives to motivate them is not working. There must be a better way.

A simple solution is to encourage municipalities to build out this so-called “last-mile” connection to individual homes and businesses by installing publicly owned fiber. This “dark fiber” would not necessarily have any service on it provided by the municipality. Instead, it would function as a “road” to one or more centralized publicly owned “meet-me” locations. At those locations you could have the fiber connected to a service provider of your choice, possibly even multiple service providers.

Because it is much more cost effective for private service providers to wire to a few central locations than to run cables to many individual homes and businesses, there is a lower barrier to entry. The effect of this would be to dramatically increase market competition in the space. If community members were interested they could create a nonprofit cooperative to compete and provide service as well.

This model addresses many of the concerns with municipal broadband — such as a lack of choice and poor customer service, or concerns about filtering, privacy and tracking — while retaining the true need and competitive advantage of offering very high-speed connections critical to future growth and prosperity. By separating the true infrastructure from the services that can ride on top of it we have, in effect, created something much more analogous to the road network that is provided publicly but utilized by many people and businesses in many different ways.

The article spurred plenty of comments. From folks who feel that there is no role for government…

“Those who are against it state that what we have now is working — that the market for broadband is flourishing and competitive in providing most Minnesotans with access — and sometimes question its importance.”

That’s not our argument. Our argument is that it’s not the role of government to be in the broadband business any more than it’s their role to be in the telephone business or the ice cream business. When a legitimate private sector exists with real players and investors in the marketplace, the role of the government is to butt out.

To folks who feel government should go whole hog…

Personally, if I were a municipality I would build an entire network and not just the last mile. A government owned system wouldn’t have to worry about price gouging, executive perks, or even making a basic profit margin. They just need enough to pay employee salaries, maintain the network, and a little cushion so the network can be upgraded periodically.

No corporate jets, no wood paneled offices, and no billion dollar golden parachute clauses to cover.

The whole thing can be paid for in part with municipal bonds, user fees, and LGA (Local Government Aid) from the state. Take all the money that would have been wasted on new highways around the state and the whole thing will be built and paid for in no time.

Check out MinnPost for move views. I always think it’s interesting to see what people have to say.