Beverly Perdue, the governor of North Carolina, may have made her opinion known that she does not like the legislature's completed anti-municipal broadband bill, but has no plans to prevent it from becoming law either.
The governor would like to see the legislature go back to the drawing table to rework the bill that had its main support from the state's dominant cable operator Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and telcos like AT&T (NYSE: T) and CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL).
"I will neither sign nor veto this will," Perdue said in a statement. "Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers."
While Perdue believes the state needs to have rules in place that prevent municipalities from having an unfair advantage over privately-run service providers like Time Warner Cable, she worries that the bill in its current state would inhibit a consumer's broadband service provider choice.
The bill requires towns and cities that want to build their own broadband network to hold public hearings and then separate their operations from their government operations and prevent them from offering services below cost. What's more, municipalities seeking a loan for their respective broadband projects would need voter approval.
North Carolina cities that have already deployed their municipal broadband networks, including Wilson, Salisbury, Morganton, Davidson, and Mooresville, are mostly exempt from the new law's rules.
For more:
- here's FierceCable's take
- News Observer has this article
Related articles:
North Carolina lawmakers finalize anti-municipal broadband bill
NC anti municipal broadband bill receives state House approval
North Carolina lawmaker launches another community broadband ban bill
Salisbury, NC progresses with its municipal FTTH deployment