Telco to city: No muni-FTTH for you

The city of Monticello, Minn., wants an FTTH network to help attract new residents and businesses. So it went to its local telco, Bridgewater Telephone, and asked them to build one. The answer? No.

So, the city decided to go it alone. It held a referendum on the issue, got the support of 74 percent of the townsfolk for the $25 million project, and lined up the municipal bonds it needed to move the plan forward.

Then, it ran into a roadblock: Bridgewater sued to keep Monticello from building its FTTH network, saying issuing bonds for the proposal would be illegal. It’s an argument other telcos are trying to use to block muni-FTTH, so far with little success, which bodes well for Monticello.

For more:
- See this Ars technica story
- Or, check out this website following the brouhaha

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