The North Carolina House pulled the teeth from a municipal broadb...
The North Carolina House pulled the teeth from a municipal broadband bill that originally would have imposed strict requirements on municipalities seeking to provide telecom services, instead passing a bill that called for a municipal broadband study. The original…
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restrictive language of HB-1587 would have required municipalities to demonstrate that their projects would start showing positive cash flow in a time frame consistent with private-enterprise projects, and would have imposed extensive procedural requirements for local approval of projects. The House Finance Committee deleted the restrictive mandates and substituted a call for the Joint Legislative Utility Review Committee to commission a two-year study of municipal broadband projects in operation around the country, to determine costs, benefits, performance and effects on private enterprise. The House passed the substitute. There would be a preliminary report to the 2008 legislature and a final report with legislative recommendations to the 2009 legislature. Municipal interests fought against the original measure while major telecom providers supported the restrictions. The much-weakened bill now goes to the Senate.