Muni Broadband Report Rejects North Carolina Policies
North Carolina must overhaul municipal broadband policies or risk leaving rural areas behind, said the Institute for Local Self-Reliance Tuesday. The state should remove barriers to broadband investment by cooperatives, allow communities to decide whether and how to deploy municipal…
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broadband, expand internet access from existing local networks and create a state program offering matching grants or a revolving loan fund, the report said. It criticized the state law that has prohibited Wilson Greenlight from expanding into neighboring communities including Pinetops (see 1609270035). The FCC pre-empted a 2011 state law, but the federal agency was overturned by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The institute also condemned a 1999 North Carolina law limiting electric cooperatives’ access to capital for telecom. “Local leaders are better equipped to solve their problems than micro-managers from Raleigh,” it said. “Some communities will embrace cooperatives, some may find ways of attracting private companies, and some may choose to work with Wilson or duplicate it. This report recommends that North Carolina remove its barriers to local choice and focus on encouraging more sources of investment rather than focusing largely on firms based outside of the state.”