Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ According to Salisbury’s “grapevine” city council has developed some colorful delusions about FCC chairman Tom Wheeler recent ideas on pruning away state laws regulating municipal broadband networks. Last Monday Wheeler, in his talks on “Net Neutrality, stated that communities ought to be able to make their own decisions about constructing broadband networks if private providers can’t meet their needs. The Chairman’s declarations rekindled memories of the infamous launch of the Fibrant debacle in 2010. Time Warner and AT&T supplied more than enough high-speed internet required in Salisbury at that time. The two incumbent privates sped up their internet service as the need arose and profits guided. What better way to run broadband business? Fibrant, without any real public support, rolled out into a debacle and quickly proved that no one in the entire city required super high-speed internet. In their almost 5 years of existence Fibrant had only two 100 Mbps customers up until July of 2014. That’s right–only two. Someone misjudged the city’s requirements for super high-speed internet in a very catastrophic way. Our city services are still reeling.
Time Warner Cable and AT&T U-Verse rolled out faster and faster speeds as the need arose. They battered Fibrant at every turn. Fibrant, despite the city fictitious claims, suffered great losses year after year and in June 2011 they burned up the last of their $33 Millions dollars worth of certificates of participation. The recent wild claims of turning the corner and making a small profit is hokum. Most know that city hall hides their immense losses by the creative practice of “Magic Math”: (1) Assert you have only 3 employees and hide their salaries in other departments. (2) Ignore Fibrant’s $7.6 million dollar debt to the city’s water and sewer funds. (Moody’s and Fitch bond ratings already called the city out on this) (3) Delay paying fees to TV providers so it doesn’t show up as a deficit. (4) Delay paying pole fees so they don’t show up either. (5) Have workers pulling double duty in other departments. (6) Squirrel marketing expenses into other city employees accounts. (7) And other “Magic Math” chicanery.
Back to Chairman Wheeler’s ideas on “Net Neutrality”. Certainly the State lawmakers won’t knuckle under to Wheeler’s ideas on erasing laws created for municipal broadband networks. Raleigh lawmakers are no doubt disinterested in providing municipal broadband networks a competitive leg up on private incumbents. Would anyone desire to have their taxes used to compete against their private business? Just imagine if Salisbury ever opened municipal junktique and bric-a-brac shops on Main Street. (Even if these shops suffered great losses, the city would claim great success!)
Back in 2011 North Carolina lawmakers wisely passed restrictions on Fibrant’s ability to expand beyond Salisbury’s city limits. If Wheeler succeeds in trimming away state laws, then its probable that Fibrant, on their own city tax and utility payers backs, might try to expand their services out into the county and perhaps beyond. The city tax and utility payers would be on the hook for this wild-eyed expansion onto turf extremely well-covered by existing high-speed privates like Time Warner Cable, AT&T U-Verse, Windstream and TV providers like DirecTV and Dish.
Be aware the privates out in the county possess deep pockets and extremely powerful marketing capabilities. In 2015 Time Warner Cable is rolling out TWC Maxx and 10 Gig by 10 gig Business Class throughout the Charlotte Region. And AT&T U-Verse will be importing one Gig into the same region. And the overwhelming majority of folks don’t buy a whole lot of high-speed internet. Those way out in the wilds of Rowan County can get 15 Mbps down through Hughes.Net satellite. If Fibrant desires to rollout in the county, they could shoot blanks. Most people in the county take a dim view of Salisbury’s network. But beleaguered tax and utility payers in Salisbury would still have to shuck out millions for this very ill-advised expansion into Rowan County.
Salisbury’s city hall may have delusions of grandeur if they believe they would have any success expanding out to Kannapolis or Concord where Time Warner Cable and AT&T U-Verse are already parked. These privates are doing a terrific job of providing broadband all over the Charlotte Region while Fibrant can’t even hold its own in Salisbury.
If the FCC decides in late February to do in state laws governing broadband, they will no doubt be hauled into court. Can’t imagine state lawmakers, anywhere in the United States, laying down for the FCC overstepping their boundaries.
http://rowanfreepress.com/fibrant/
