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
Related articles:
Telcos go to court over municipal fiber. Telco report
Judge won't block Chattanooga's muni-fiber network. Chattanooga network report
Provo's disasterous iProve experience. iProvo report
Comments (3) | Post a comment
Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 1:46pm | July 25, 2008
All the city needs to do(I think that this is acceptable)is to connect ALL city owned buildings and properties with fiber and then they are allowed to serve all areas that the fiber will pass. In other words, the primary purpose of the fiber is to connect city properties-and as a secondary thought, to add hardware to supply broadband.
By christopher mitchell | Posted 5:32pm | August 5, 2008
The July 18 hearing has not yet been ruled on. There may be some news from a hearing on Aug 6. Check Monticellofiber.com for details.