I remember Pac Tel (now part of AT&T again) deploying a lot of fiber out here in San Diego in the 90s, and then tearing it all out without ever using it. Apparently they wanted it off their books to cut their taxes.
Astounding. Almost like The Grapes of Wrath that we read in high school.
I agree that the fiber plant doesn't necessarily have to be owned by the municipality; it could be owned by a commercial business regulated as a common carrier. But common carriers have a history of escaping regulation; who under the age of 40 today has even heard the expression "common carrier", much less know what it means? (Then again, even municipal ownership is no guarantee. AT&T, Comcast or whoever could first persuade everyone to vote to strangle their local governments of tax revenue -- never a difficult job -- prompting said local governments to sell off their cable plants at fire sale prices to, you guessed it, AT&T.)
I don't see technology upgrades as much of a problem since the speed of single-mode fiber is determined entirely by what you put at the end points, not the fiber itself. Just make the terminal equipment part of what the competitive service providers are expected to provide; the municipality or common carrier only deploy and maintain the fiber itself, plus associated real estate like underground vaults and above-ground buildings that they lease to the service providers.
Astounding. Almost like The Grapes of Wrath that we read in high school.
I agree that the fiber plant doesn't necessarily have to be owned by the municipality; it could be owned by a commercial business regulated as a common carrier. But common carriers have a history of escaping regulation; who under the age of 40 today has even heard the expression "common carrier", much less know what it means? (Then again, even municipal ownership is no guarantee. AT&T, Comcast or whoever could first persuade everyone to vote to strangle their local governments of tax revenue -- never a difficult job -- prompting said local governments to sell off their cable plants at fire sale prices to, you guessed it, AT&T.)
I don't see technology upgrades as much of a problem since the speed of single-mode fiber is determined entirely by what you put at the end points, not the fiber itself. Just make the terminal equipment part of what the competitive service providers are expected to provide; the municipality or common carrier only deploy and maintain the fiber itself, plus associated real estate like underground vaults and above-ground buildings that they lease to the service providers.
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