North Carolina Lawmakers Put Municipal Broadband Bill on Hold

North Carolina lawmakers have put the brakes on a bill that would have crippled municipal broadband in the state. Wednesday morning, the House Public Utilities Committee sent the measure to committee for further study. The move means that lawmakers likely won't consider the bill for at least one more year. The measure, backed by Internet service providers Time Warner and Embarq, would have effectively prevented cities and towns from building their own high-speed Internet networks. Among other provisions, the law would have prevented cities from using revenue from other public utilities to finance broadband networks. The measure would also prevent cities from using federal stimulus funds -- including the $4.7 billion Congress specifically allocated to improve broadband -- to build new networks. The incumbents argue that the financial terms will prevent towns from gaining an unfair advantage over commercial providers.