North Carolina Again Considers Law To Restrict Muni-Broadband

Last year, Internet service provider Time Warner backed an initiative in North Carolina to discourage local towns from building their own broadband networks. The proposed bill, which would make municipal broadband prohibitively expensive, ultimately was put on hold pending further study. Now, a legislative committee is getting ready to report on the results of that study.

And some local broadband advocates say they fear that lawmakers could vote as early as Wednesday to impose a moratorium on new municipal broadband construction. Greensboro resident Jay Ovittore, who is organizing an effort to defeat the potential moratorium, says that new municipal broadband networks will benefit the entire state. "With the speeds and broadband capacity that would be available, I would think you'd see a huge inflow of jobs," he says. "Time Warner is holding our state back."