Single-chamber Neb. legislature’s Transportation & Telecom Commit...
Single-chamber Neb. legislature’s Transportation & Telecom Committee is to open hearings today (Jan. 30) on group of bills intended to level competitive playing field between municipal electric utilities and private telecom sector in dark fiber leasing business. One bill…
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(LB-41) would effectively set aside PSC ruling last year that municipal electric utilities couldn’t lease excess dark fiber in their private telecom networks because that’s telecom service not covered by their electric franchise. Bill would give municipal utilities right to lease dark fiber to state-certificated telecom carriers, but not to end users. Another bill (LB-463) would allow municipal utility fiber leasing only through separately financed subsidiary subject to PSC regulation and same taxes and fees as private sector. Group of similar bills (LB-827, LB-89 and LB-90) would allow municipal utility dark fiber leasing providing all or portion of profits be used to support development of advanced phone services in rural areas. Bills also differ in how profits would benefit rural services. Neb. Telecom Assn. said it opposed bills because they effectively would reward municipal electric utilities for overbuilding their telecom networks and didn’t address fundamental problem of unfair competition between not-for-profit municipal utilities and private enterprise.