Network management Toolkit

The battles of community broadband

Jim Hu and Marguerite Reardon CNET News

Published: 09 May 2005 18:35 BST

A hundred years ago, when Louisiana was still literally in the dark, residents of Lafayette banded together to build a city-owned electric utility where once there was little more than swampland. Today, at the dawn of the 21st century, it is hatching plans to lay out its own state-of-the-art fibre-optic broadband network.

This time, the city's futuristic ambitions are challenged not by the rigors of geography but by obstacles of business: specifically, telecommunications giant BellSouth and cable provider Cox Communications, which claimed the region as their own years ago. But the historic coastal community, known for its eclectic culture and rhythmic zydeco music, is not about to abandon the pioneering spirit that begat its visionary reputation.

After a legal skirmish earlier this year, the two sides are preparing for a citywide election slated for mid-July that will decide the issue.

"The people of Lafayette feel like there is a history of seizing the initiative," said John St. Julien, a member of Lafayette Coming Together, a citizens group supporting the fibre network. "Our Creole and Cajun communities have always been told by outsiders that everything we did was wrong — from our language to the food we eat. Culturally, we've learned not to care what others think or say about us. I think it gives us a place to stand when companies like BellSouth and Cox come in and tell us we can't do something."

Across the country, acrimonious conflicts have erupted as local governments attempt to create publicly funded broadband services with faster connections and cheaper rates for all citizens, narrowing the so-called digital divide. The Bells and cable companies, for their part, argue that government intervention in their business is not justified and say they are far better equipped to operate complex and far-flung data networks.

"Is broadband fast food, or is it power?" said Doug Lichtman, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. "The answer might be: 'We don't know. Let's experiment with it.' It might give us great information about what risks the government assumes, once it gets into it."

In some cases, local governments have simply stepped into a vacuum left by commercial providers that have proved slow or unwilling to bring broadband to their residents. But the situation has grown more complicated with public broadband proposals in major cities already served by private industry. These projects highlight a growing conviction that broadband is not merely a luxury of modern urban life, but rather an essential public service that could increase tourism and commerce while squeezing new efficiencies from services such as health care, education and even sanitation.