November 13, 2007

Telecom firms break spending records to fight muni broadband

Linda Aerni made good on her promise to take a petition to the people of Nebraska to lift the ban on municipal broadband in general and specifically BPL.

          She described for us her position back in December after a task force created by the bill -- that she was appointed to -- decided against her and advised the legislature that the muni broadband ban was a good idea (BT, 12/19).

          Her petition to overturn the ban is due next year but has already faced obstacles -- including the sort we might expect to be put up by government entities who are in the pockets of incumbent broadband providers.

          Our previous story revealed that the committee that was created to advise the legislature on muni broadband was run by a telecom executive.

          To get the issue put back in front of the people of Nebraska, state law requires a petition with 89,000 signatures.  That will put the issue on the next ballot -- a vote to overturn LB 645.

          This isn't a tale taken from a Hollywood movie about how big business controls lawmakers in our democracy, folks, this is really happening.

          Aerni is founder of Community Internet Services and is a former utility employee.

          Her non-proft group, UsePublicPower.com created the petition online but then discovered the state requires the signatures to be notarized.

          Thus Aerni made arrangements with several banks and real estate offices around the state -- in return for publicizing their assistance -- and believed her petition was in compliance with the rules when the Secretary of State John Gale's Office told her otherwise.

          The petition forms couldn't be downloaded by people around the state and printed from a digital file on the internet, they had to be "printed from camera ready artwork" that's provided by the secretary's office, she quoted.

          Sure enough, when she requested that the camera ready artwork be delivered to her it came on a CD in a digital format.

          Nebraska in the USA's unicameral state -- meaning it has one body of legislators thus doing away with the checks and balances inherent in the "house and senate" approach.

          And it means public petitions play the role of the opposing legislative body.

          "The petition process is not a real popular process and this is the way the legislators stop any watchdog organization," Aerni reported.

            They're using old tricks

          Telecom incumbents are famous for dirty tricks and using court cases and malleable legislators to serve their market strategies.

          Their arguments against municipal broadband networks claim tax gathering entities shouldn't have the right to compete with the private sector.

          But the argument is akin to booksellers that want libraries outlawed.  It's just sometimes not in the best interest of the public to ban a public service that private firms might want to compete with.

          And it wouldn't be an issue if the incumbents were rolling out services but in many places they aren't but they want to leave open the option of being the monopoly provider at some later date.

          Meanwhile, many Americans suffer the economic and livelihood losses as jobs and businesses move away from their un-served towns and cities.  And the legislators elected to do right by the people are among the culprits.

          Here's the pot of gold

          But wait -- there's more to it.  In Nebraska, as in other states, the effort to kill municipal broadband including BPL isn't just about thwarting a potential competitor -- it's over a $100 million pot of gold called the universal service fund.

          That's how much telecom firms get from a 6.95% tax on ratepayer's utility bills - and it goes straight to their bottom line, Aerni reported.

          An unbelievable 75% of some telecom firm profits are from the fund.

          One firm is paid about $4,000 for each phone circuits it runs.

          Qwest took in about $25 million from this fund last year and failed to pay any income tax for 2006, she added.

          Thus the broadband bill saw huge volumes of money change hands in an effort to keep the status quo.  Some $500,000 was spent, said Aerni, and the citizens don't realize that the most money ever paid for lobbing in the state was over this bill.

          "Nebraska citizens will never ever enjoy the benefits of BPL even though we own the utilities," Aerni said.

          If her grassroots efforts don't win over Nebraska's residents, "we will never enjoy the competition that people in other states have."

          The petition is due July 1, 2008 to be on the ballot the following November.  "Today's battle is to let the public decide BPL or not BPL," said Aerni.

          Link: UsePublicPower.org [www.usepublicpower.com]