SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the dogs-and-cats-living-together,-mass-hysteria dept.
Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Years in the making, a proposal to mandate the installation of fiber conduits during federally funded highway projects might be gaining some new momentum.
If the US adopts a "dig once" policy, construction workers would install conduits just about any time they build new roads and sidewalks or upgrade existing ones. These conduits are plastic pipes that can house fiber cables. The conduits might be empty when installed, but their presence makes it a lot cheaper and easier to install fiber later, after the road construction is finished.
The idea is an old one. US Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) has been proposing dig once legislation since 2009, and it has widespread support from broadband-focused consumer advocacy groups. It has never made it all the way through Congress, but it has bipartisan backing from lawmakers who often disagree on the most controversial broadband policy questions, such as net neutrality and municipal broadband. It even got a boost from Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who has frequently clashed with Democrats and consumer advocacy groups over broadband—her "Internet Freedom Act" would wipe out the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules, and she supports state laws that restrict growth of municipal broadband.
Blackburn, chair of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, put Eshoo's dig once legislation on the agenda for a hearing she held yesterday on broadband deployment and infrastructure. Blackburn's opening statement said that dig once is among the policies she's considering to "facilitate the deployment of communications infrastructure." But her statement did not specifically endorse Eshoo's dig once proposal, which was presented only as a discussion draft with no vote scheduled. The subcommittee also considered a discussion draft that would "creat[e] an inventory of federal assets that can be used to attach or install broadband infrastructure."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by snufu on Monday March 27 2017, @08:53PM (2 children)
from Comcast.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday March 27 2017, @09:08PM (1 child)
Don't see why they would complain. It is the "last mile" that is the problem (and that municipalities get sued for solving).
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 27 2017, @09:23PM
It provides access for competitors, they wouldn't like that one bit. If all someone needs to do is come up with the cost of the fiber plus some equipment closets and NOT jump through various regulations just to get their cables in the ground, then you will see competition. Telecoms love their monopolies, they run pretty much the most profitable businesses around!