Lincolnite

If they could provide added value to the customer, then I say go for it.  The broadband offerings in not only this city, but this entire nation are pathetic.  If LES can offer higher speeds at a comparable, maybe even lower, price, then they absolutely should. 

Anyway, I’m still holding out that the new Verizon office could mean good things for us - FiOS internet and, gasp, an alternative to TW Cable TV!

man those were some fun days in the Legislature.  All you had to do was look those who opposed BPL and it all made sense.

Agreed on the pathetic state of broadband in our country.

I would love another option.

From a customer standpoint the idea of an alternative (and possibly cheaper) provider of broadband service is nice.

However, I oppose the idea of public utilities being in direct competition with private business, unless of course you allow the private businesses to have the tax advantages of the public utilities.

Public utilities don’t pay taxes and they have financing options available to them that private companies do not enjoy. Additionally, they would be able to cherry pick the most profitable customers to serve while leaving sparsely populated, rural areas that are costly to serve, to other providers.

I have not yet seen this idea proposed in a way that provides a level playing field to everyone. If that can happen, then I’m all for it. Until then, the government needs to stay out of competition with private business (ala the Lincoln ambulance service).

Telephone companies like to portray themselves as private companies.  However, they are not the typical private company.  The vast majority of the phone companies in Nebraska each owns a monopoly.  These monopolies are protected by law, eliminating most of their competition. 

In addition, most owners of a phone company also own multiple other businesses that then provide services to the phone company at inflated rates.  This allows the owner to say that my costs of operating the phone company are high so I need to have high rates.  Much of the phone company revenue comes from charges made to long distance companies, cell phone companies, and to the Universal Service Fund.  The higher the costs the higher the rates that can be charged.  The fee charged directly to the phone company dial up customer is just one small part of how the money works.  The owner of the phone company has a very strong incentive to use is trenching company, his internet company, his phone book company, his etc, etc, companies as a way to siphon monopoly money into his personal pockets while charging above market rates for these services.

In other words, the phone company is not a typical private company that needs protected from competition.  If the phone monopoly had to open its books and purchase services and provide services at market rate it would be one thing. 

Closed book deals happen every day just to inflate costs so higher fees can be charged.  Nebraska has the highest USF tax in the nation.  Why, because the more it costs the monopoly to do business with the other the businesses the owner of the empire has, the more money the owner of the telco can make.