Chattanooga Will Ask FCC to Preempt State Barriers in Tennessee

Date: 11 Jul 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Since January, when the DC Circuit Court of Appeals suggested the FCC has the authority to preempt state anti-muni laws, local communities have publicly supported the notion. Chattanooga’s Electric Power Board (EPB) will join those communities when it petitions the FCC to preempt similar laws in Tennessee, reports The Center for Public Integrity. Danna Bailey, vice … Read More

Chanute City Commission Approves FTTH Plan

Date: 20 Jun 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Chanute City Commission decided on June 9th to take the next step to bring ftth to the community; Commissioners voted unanimously to pursue and finalize funding to deploy a municipal network. The City’s current fiber network provides connectivity to schools, hospitals, electric utility and municipal facilities, the local college, and several businesses. Chanute has worked since … Read More

Plan for FTTH in Chanute Looking Positive in Kansas

Date: 6 Jun 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Chanute has been exploring available options for a citywide FTTH network. In addition to offering residential service, city leaders want to expand the business use of its municipal fiber network. A limited number of businesses currently join schools, government, and utilities on the fiber infrastructure. The community incrementally built a fiber network to serve government, utilities, … Read More

In Kansas, Chanute Explores FTTH Options

Date: 21 May 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Last December, we reported on Chanute’s decision to move forward with plans for a FTTH network. The community has a fiber and wireless network in place that serves utilities, public facilities such as libraries and schools, and several businesses. The network also provides free Wi-Fi across the community. As we discussed in our 2012 case study, Chanute … Read More

Westminster and Chanute Pass Resolutions Supporting FCC’s Authority to Remove State Barriers

Date: 3 Mar 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In light of the recent announcement, community leaders in Maryland and Kansas are rallying behind the FCC as it considers its authority under Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. In a show of support, the Westminster Mayor and Common Council passed Resolution 14-01, a statement in support of restoring and preserving local authority to build networks. … Read More

Kansas Community Benefits from Community Owned Networks

Date: 4 Feb 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Even though the Kansas cable lobby have temporarily retracted their competition-killing telecom bill, we still want to highlight the benefits of preserving full home rule, local authority by focusing on a number of communities, including Chanute, Ottawa, and Erie. Chanute We have reported on Chanute’s municipal network for years. The community leveraged its electric utility assets and … Read More

Kansas Anti-Competition Bill Authored by Cable Lobbyists

Date: 31 Jan 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

We learned a lot today about the anti-competition bill (SB 304) in Kansas to limit Internet network investments. Ars Technica’s Jon Brodkin discovered the source of the bill, the Kansas Cable Telecommunications Association: That’s a lobby group with members such as Comcast, Cox, Eagle Communications, and Time Warner Cable. The bill was introduced this week, referred … Read More

Early Reactions to Anti-Competition Broadband Bill in Kansas

Date: 30 Jan 2014 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Following the introduction of SB 304 to limit investment in Internet networks in Kansas, which we covered on Tuesday, we saw some early reactions from those who fear the bill will effectively stop new investment in networks, much to the benefit of the big cable and telephone companies already providing service. We quickly saw a new … Read More

Bill to Limit Internet Investment Introduced in Kansas

Date: 30 Jan 2014 | posted in: information, MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Kansas is the latest legislative battle ground in the fight to preserve local self-reliance. The Kansas Legislature is taking up SB 304 to limit local municipalities’ authority to invest in publicly owned networks. While the language of the bill states the purpose is to “encourage widespread use of technological advances” for video and broadband at competitive … Read More

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