As a community we have a variety of choices in what we do regarding the development and implementation of the information infrastructure. Among the choices are:
- Do Nothing
- Leave completely to market forces
- Community Options
- Hybrid Market Forces/Community
Choices others are making
Two examples of communities that have taken charge of their information infrastructure, both of which encourages competition and cover the entire municipal area are:
- Stokab, which is wholly owned by the City of Stockholm, is building its own fibre-optic network, leasing dark fibre at low and competition neutral pricing. The idea is to make the city an attractive place for investors and at the same time minimize the excavation work in the streets of Stockholm All operators can rent fibre out thus creating a level playing field for all service providers. More important, customers will have a real choice all the way in the local loop, since the parallel structure will be available curbside. During '96 - '97 all blocks in the inner city will have this in at least one point.
Fibre to Promote Commerce in Stockholm Few European cities have embraced IT as ardently as Stockholm. Deregulation of the Swedish telecoms market has fuelled an influx of companies eager to harness the potential of electronic communication, a development that led the Stockholm city council to build its own high-speed communications network.
"With the great number of new players in the market we saw a need for an alternative infrastructure," said Stokab's Anders Comstedt, adding that the city has sought to nurture the market by offering duct capacity at below new operator cost.
Some 13 companies, including international names like France Telecom, now use fibre infrastructure or broadband microwave to generate services in Stockholm, in addition to leasing standard lines from the formerly state-owned telecoms operator Telia.
Fibre up to curbside is being deployed in all commercial districts, both in the city centre and suburbs, with completion due in 1996. A central residential network is due to be finished in 1996-97.
- And in this country, Glasgow, Kentucky. The people of Glasgow feared competition in the coming unregulated environment for their municipally- owned electric utility and they desired competition in the cable television marketplace, and the telephone marketplace. They also wished to establish a city-wide computer network which was not available from either the telephone company or the cable television company.
The reasons for a community such as Glasgow to consider a municipally-owned "information superhighway" or broadband network are not born of new technology. Instead, they are based in a continuum which stretches back to the earliest days of colonizing and developing this country. The same reasons that have driven municipalities to operate water purification and distribution systems, sewerage systems, police and fire departments, electric power systems, natural gas systems, and other services, will hold true for the coming communications systems. Glasgow's broadband network is expected to be the economic engine that will power Glasgow and thousands of other communities into economic prosperity during the coming information age.
Glasgow residents are linked to each other by a high-speed broadband network (no telephone modems), operated by the Glasgow Electric Plant Board, the local utility providing Glasgow's electric power, cable TV, computer networking and other services.
Elsewhere
- L.A. is on cutting edge of public telecom systems BY JONATHAN WEBER Los Angeles Times( 4 aug 97 SJ Merc) Cities build and maintain all kinds of infrastructure, from roads to ports to electricity grids; in a few places they even own the cable TV system. Fiber-optic communications networks, which use lasers to carry voice and data and video communications at extremely high speeds, are increasingly vital for many types of economic and social activity, and there's no reason in principle that local governments shouldn't be involved.
- Update on Other Cities Activities in California and across the nation are recognizing the strategic role they can play in ensuring that low cost, high quality telecommunications services are provided in their communities. A variety of actions are being pursued. Some cities, particularly those with municipal electric utilities, are identifying competitive advantages and moving forward with activities directed toward providing or facilitating the provision of telecommunications services to citizens and businesses within their communities.
- Anaheim will soon be the first city in America with a citywide Universal Telecommunications Network Beginning in summer of 1997, businesses, schools, hospitals and City government offices in Anaheim will have the choice to connect to the most advanced broadband telecommunications network in the world.
The Anaheim City Council adopted the following six "Guiding Principles" to guide the development of the Universal Telecommunications System:
- Minimize disruption to public property and ensure efficient use of the City's streets,
- Ensure reliable telecommunications services at the lowest cost to the City's residents and businesses,
- Ensure universal access and interconnectivity,
- Ensure maximum number and variety of telecommunications services,
- Enhance the City's economic development programs,
- Receive fair compensation for the use of public property and City participation.
- City of Austin, TX Adopts Telecommunity Partnership Initiative -April 9, 1997 The establishment of this initiative will serve as a catalyst for the creation of partnership efforts and leaderships within the community that put a greater combination of private sector and public sector matched efforts to work on laying a foundation for a strong 21st century economy for Austin. The key to achieving the best future will be an active telecommunity; with a well-trained workforce, an enlightened consumership, an empowered home-based small business economy, and a vital local democracy and culture.
In response, SBC, which recently bought Pac Bell, shepherded through the Texas Legislature HB 2128 . The new law protects SBC and Time Warner Communications (owner of Austin CableVision) in two ways: it restricts competitors from leasing existing fiber-optic line and requires them to install their own infrastructure, which few competitors can afford; and in a clause said to have been included because of just what Austin was planning, the law also restricts municipalities from partnering with telecommunications companies to provide service. SWB and TW hold franchise agreements with the City of Austin to provide telephone and cable service, respectively. Both are interested in expanding their telecommunications interests here and elsewhere in the state, and are vehemently opposed to partnerships between cities and outside service providers.
- Community Network Projects These Georgia cities are operating or planning their own telecommunications or cable TV systems.
- Two Oregon Electric Utilities to Install Fiber Optics(Jun. 24, 1997) Springfield Utility Board and Eugene Water & Electric Board will start work this summer on a $1.5 million project to lay fiber optic cables along most major streets, with the idea of eventually spending up to $20 million to hook up every home and business in town.
- Telia offers city ATM (COMMUNICATIONSWEEK INTERNATIONAL February 20, 1995)
Helsingborg, Sweden-Telia rolled out an Asynchronous Transfer Mode network in Helsingborg this month that will bring multimegabit applications initially to libraries, schools, medical facilities, offices and other city government institutions.
The network, called CityNet, will eventually give homes and businesses the ability to send and receive data and images over the public network at speeds up to 155 mbps, a more than four-fold increase over Telia's current 34-mbps leased-line service.
- Telecommunications Policy and Cities Cities have an enormous stake in the changing telecommunications environment. New and emerging technologies for the movement of information will undoubtedly affect their role as the hub of information-intensive industries, such as banking, advertising, publishing, and law, and the site of major cultural, health care and educational institutions. This paper examines the way in which reforms brought on by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and advances in communications technology will influence the economic function of cities in the United States, the delivery of urban public services and the economic condition of inner-city neighborhoods.
- The Politics of Infrastructure tele.com Dec-4-96 - Some local governments are making big investments in high-speed networks
- Life in the Fast Lane: A Municipal Roadmap for the Information Superhighway A hundred years ago, lack of a railroad stop condemned many communities to a lingering death. Thirty years ago, interstate interchanges helped many communities to prosper, while those on back roads stagnated. Now the "information superhighway" is coming. Will our community be ready?
- Telecommunications and Civic Networking
Telecommunications is the infrastructure issue of the 1990s. Telecommunications facilities are becoming critical to communities -- for business, education, health services, and for delivery of municipal services. Despite the rhetoric of telecommunications deregulation, local government must pay as much attention to information infrastructure as to roads, waterworks, electricity, and other earlier generations of infrastructure.
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