Several companies oppose Georgia House Bill 282, they said in...
Several companies oppose Georgia House Bill 282, they said in a letter to a Georgia legislator (http://bit.ly/YvVads). The bill would place restrictions on whether a municipality can build its own telecom network, limiting that option to occasions where a region…
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receives insufficient service (CD Feb 21 p11). Signatories include Alcatel-Lucent, the American Public Power Association, Atlantic Engineering, the Fiber to the Home Council, Gigabit Squared, Google, NATOA, OnTrac, the Southeast Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, the Telecommunications Industry Association and the Utilities Telecom Council. “We, the private-sector companies and trade associations listed below, urge you to oppose HB 282 because this bill will harm both the public and private sectors, stifle economic growth, prevent the creation or retention of thousands of jobs, hamper work force development, and diminish the quality of life in Georgia,” said the letter, dated Feb. 18 and addressed to Rep. Don Parsons, the Republican chairman of the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee overseeing the bill. The letter was posted on the website of attorney Jim Baller, an advocate for municipal networks. “HB 282 is a step in the wrong direction,” the letter said. “It is bad for Georgia’s communities, bad for Georgia’s private sector, particularly high-technology companies, and bad for America’s global competitiveness.” The bill will receive an initial hearing Tuesday at 3 p.m., a spokeswoman for the Georgia Municipal Association -- an opponent of the bill -- told us.