Following a mid-July vote by citizens to approve the project, the battle over Lafayette’s planned municipal broadband network continues at the state PSC. According to The Daily Advisor:
Lafayette Utilities System and BellSouth appear to be headed for a showdown Sept. 1 over proposed Louisiana Public Service Commission rules that could affect the fiber-to-the-home project that voters approved July 16.
As written, the proposed rules would prohibit LUS from using the assets of its electric, water and sewer divisions to guarantee the fiber debt. LUS also would be required to pay in lieu of taxes to Lafayette Consolidated Government and would be forced to allow other telecom companies to insert promotional material in its billing mailouts.
With regard to LUS pledging the resources of its other utility divisions in securing bonds for the telecom division, LUS said BellSouth wants a restriction prohibiting creditors, upon default, from having access to the assets of other LUS divisions, a provision directly conflicting state law. BellSouth said its recommendations are consistent with the Fair Competition Act’s prohibition against cross-subsidization.
In the matter of the in lieu of taxes, LUS argued that if it pays LCG in lieu of taxes as a substitute for payments private companies make, LUS is entitled to credit against imputed taxes. BellSouth argued that the proposed rules requiring LUS to pay in lieu of taxes prevents LUS from cross-subsidizing the telecom services with imputed tax revenue collected from its customers.
The proposed rules, which took months to compose, were ordered by the state Legislature in 2004 when it adopted the Fair Competition Act or Act 736 to ensure municipalities like LUS do not have an unfair advantage over private telecommunications companies.
LUS Director Terry Huval has indicated that the PSC staff exceeded the limits of Act 736 with some of its recommendations. BellSouth argues that the PSC proposals are within the commission’s authority and that some recommendations do not go far enough to ensure a fair playing field for private providers.Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 11:50 PM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
According to the Independent:
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is understood to have made a bid approach to the fast- growing internet phone group, Skype, which may have valued the two-year-old operation at almost $3bn (£1.7bn)…However, talks fell apart last month, just before Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan quit his father’s empire.
An acquisition of Skype would have been News Corp’s second big leap this summer beyond the boundaries of its core businesses. In mid-July, it announced the acquisition of MySpace, arguably the industry leader in social networking web sites. Some perspective on that intriguing deal can be found in coverage by the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and a PaidContent interview with Ross Levinsohn, President, Fox Interactive Media.
Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 11:14 PM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBackTelephony’s Carol Wilson summarizes the conclusions of a new report on municipal broadband by Yankee Group analyst Tara Howard:
“Incumbent providers have yet to develop a profitable model for expanding their networks into rural areas, leaving communities to feel the pressures of the digital divide,” Howard said. But building out a network so quickly that its capacity exceeds local demand can create an unnecessary financial burden on the community, she stated.
The remedy is to take a phased approach that starts by connecting local government facilities for internal communications and then gradually extends the reach of the network into the community, beginning with local businesses.Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 10:58 PM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Missouri Attorney General’s office has opened an investigation into advertising for low-priced high-speed service with a focus on SBC and “other” companies, presumably Missouri-based Charter Communications.
At issue is not the low priced options themselves ($14.95 for new customers for one year, in the case of SBC) but how the high-speed providers inform customers that their low rates are coming to an end once the introductory period is over. Missouri law requires companies to inform customers in a conspicuous fashion what their contract terms are, and in some cases, or so alleges the Missouri AG, some broadband providers automatically switch high-speed customers over to the highest monthly rate when the introductory period ends even though other, cheaper (such as annual contract extension) options may exist.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 12:27 PM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
PVR Blog has a blurb today on a time-shifting service that has caught less attention than SlingBox. Orb is a free software based applications that allows users to watch all kinds of videos on their PCs or laptops, including TV channels streamed over the net.
Users must have a TV tuner connected to their PC to watch the shows, but Orb allows them to watch the content anywhere. The free service, which hopes to make money via advertising, also features a PVR function allowing users to record programs for later viewing.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:40 AM | Print | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The FCC’s decision last week to classify DSL as an information service, freeing phone companies from any obligation to provide competitors with access to their high-speed facilities, continues to mobilize opposition. The Wall Street Journal today has a front page piece on the rise of “net neutrality” following this Commission ruling. Penned by Amy Schatz and Anne Marie Squeo, the article rehashes small telco Madison River’s effort to block Vonage phone calls.
More interestingly, the piece recaps efforts by the High Tech Coalition, a group of six big tech supplier trade associations, to influence the Commission’s DSL decision, with Silicon Valley players hoping to persuade FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on adopting net neutrality rules at the last minute. Amazon apparently even draft an 18-page net neutrality brief.
No newbies to the prospect of a Washington firestorm giving way to legislative nastiness, the phone and cable industries are working on voluntary net neutrality guidelines in the hopes of derailing legislation that might codify mandatory net neutrality requirements.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:13 AM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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