Stevens Questions Fairness Of City Broadband Involvement

[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is questioning the fairness of cities' involvement in developing municipal broadband networks, while other senators are defending such ventures as essential to deploying broadband technology. At a hearing of Stevens' panel, he and Commerce Technology Subcommittee Chairman John Ensign (R-NV) took turns questioning Philadelphia's chief information officer and an official for Earthlink, which is building a wireless Internet network for the city, to determine if the project enjoyed subsidies or special treatments. Chief Information Officer Dianah Neff and Donald Berryman, president of municipal networks for Earthlink, said the project did not enjoy special treatment. Neff and Berryman said the city's involvement was in response to inadequate service by cable and Bell companies. "Just as with municipal electrical systems, municipal networks can make broadband access universal in the 21st Century," said Neff. "For too long, the residents of Philadelphia have waited." Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) said such municipal-private sector ventures are essential to broadband deployment. Sen Lautenberg is co-sponsoring legislation with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to limit states' ability to bar municipal wireless projects.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-OSKI1140036397183.html