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Committee backs bill to apply telecom rules to municipal broadband; cities and private providers split
Summary
Senate Bill 165 would subject municipal broadband projects to the same reporting, separation and voter-approval rules that apply to municipal cable and telecom services. The committee voted to favorably recommend the bill after testimony from city managers, municipal network operators and private-sector groups.
Senator Lincoln Fillmore told the Revenue and Taxation Committee that Senate Bill 165 modernizes the Municipal Cable, Television and Communications Services Act to explicitly include broadband, so municipalities that provide broadband must meet transparency and competition safeguards similar to those that apply to cable and telecommunications providers.
The bill would require municipalities proposing broadband service to conduct feasibility studies, benchmark annual reports against those studies, maintain separation between their regulatory role and their provider role, treat private providers nondiscriminatorily in access to municipal…
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