Save Muni Wireless

Reasons to Support The Muni Ban

Yesterday, the House Committee on Regulated Industries opened up their public hearings on HB 789. On this first day, they chose to hear testimony only from professional lobbyists, mostly the big company telcos.

These communication providers discussed the parts of HB 789 that interest them, and gave their reasons for or against. Since we didn't have a chance to tell our side of the story, I have nothing to report there. Instead, I thought this morning I'd show you their side.

Here are all the reasons the communication providers gave to support the ban on municipal networks:

• Southwestern Bell: ...
• Verizon: ...
• Time Warner Telecom: ...
• Grande Communications: ...
• AT&T: ...(chirp)...

That's right, not a single provider went on the record with a call to ban municipal networks. There was no evidence presented to support the ban.

So, why are we doing this? Maybe we should write our state representatives and ask.