Senators can't agree on municipal broadband rules

[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
When cities create wireless networks, should the Feds restrict their efforts, promote them, or let individual states decide the ground rules? That's the question politicians and industry representatives batted around during a 90-minute Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon. For some at Wednesday's hearing, the answer was clear: If the nation hopes to pull up its worldwide ranking in broadband deployment, the federal government must step in and protect the rights of municipalities to build their own broadband networks. "As we work to reach the goal of universal broadband, we must open new doors, not slam them shut," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) indicated to reporters after Tuesday's hearing that he didn't necessarily favor any of the proposals currently under consideration. Of municipally sponsored broadband, he said, "I only want to make sure it fits into the system of what is fair and doesn't prohibit future competition."
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