Businesses In NYC Dreaming Of A Wireless Broadband Future

from the ain't-seen-nothing-yet dept

There's been a heated discussion all over the internet concerning the Declan McCullough article we wrote about earlier this week, saying that there's plenty of broadband coverage in the US. Some have pointed to plenty of misstatements in the article, and our concern was that there really didn't appear to be much real competition -- even if places did have some access to broadband. However, the holes in US broadband coverage are getting a lot more attention lately -- and if there's one common thread, it's that the incumbents aren't just ignoring those areas, they're doing everything possible to keep them without broadband. Broadband Reports points out that Indiana is the latest state to try to ban muni broadband, even though a few cities in that state set up their own, very successful muni broadband offerings after the incumbent providers refused to offer service. In many cases, those muni efforts saved jobs. Meanwhile, if broadband access is so widespread, you would expect New York City to pretty well covered. Turns out the answer is no. Plenty of industrial areas in NYC have no broadband at all, leading many companies to consider moving out of the area. The incumbents are slow to provide for those areas, because they don't see enough money in it. So, isn't that a perfect situation for a municipality to step up? They could help pave the way for multiple providers to offer broadband -- leading to fair competition and keeping jobs within that location. Of course, what's more likely is that the incumbents will try to block any such move and promise broadband eventually... at monopolistic prices.