According to today's report from Law.com, Telecommunications companies are suing cities around the United States in order to stop the construction of publicly owned fiber optic systems that bring high-speed Internet, telephone and cable television to communities far from metropolitan centers.

Attorneys for cities say the telecommunications suits, whether brought under state law, the Federal Telecommunications Act or other laws, are veiled attempts to stop construction of competing public systems providing an essential utility in the digital age.

"The cruel irony is that the carriers may be arguing that the cities are competing with them because muni-bells are in the mold of traditional telecom—perhaps the problem is cities aren't bold enough and didn't go all the way to undermine the basic idea of telecommunications as a service," says Bob Frankston. "If they fund it directly as infrastructure then the carriers' basic service-provider model would be undermined and that would do far more damage than some cities competing on their own terms. Maybe the carriers would force them to go all the way to the funding infrastructure. If that happens the carriers have to face up to their real problem - justifying why people must be forced to pay them for services the users can do better themselves and explaining how they could make money when they keep bits confined to billable paths."

Read full story: Law.com

See related topics: Access Providers, Broadband, Law