So - everything I had pretty much heard about this before - means this can't be done and is illegal. But actually - I guess not. If a local company in the state of Alabama expands to connect school systems using e-rate money , the additional pairs of fiber can be used for other purposes, right?
I know of this traveller company... (quoted in the article). They're a lot like our WISPs, except we never hear that they do any business. We are on a lot of the same towers. Apparently they only do business customers. http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/02/schools_will_bring_high-speed.html Nearly three dozen Alabama public school systems will take the first step this month to build their own high-speed Internet networks. It is the first phase of a plan to extend high-speed Internet into rural Alabama announced by Gov. Robert Bentley in his Feb. 2 State of the State speech. More school districts will follow in 2017 and 2018 until publicly owned networks bring high-speed Internet to thousands of state students who don't have it now, officials say. The schools will be seeking bids from companies who want to build, operate and maintain - but not own - high-speed Internet connections to schools and libraries, state officials say. Experts from across the state, led by Office of Broadband Development Director Kathy Johnson, have been studying how to do it since July 2015. What the governor said "Technology is growing at lightning speed, changing the way we educate, deliver healthcare and even start a business," Bentley said in his speech. "Yet our communities and rural areas cannot tap into the potential that Broadband access would bring." Other cities and counties across America are rapidly extending high-speed Internet. A recent Washington conference showed how doctors are monitoring patients over high-speed lines, students are watching live demonstrations from distant colleges, and cities are putting free high-speed Internet into community centers in low-income neighborhoods. Nearly 1 million Alabamians have no access to high-speed Internet, according to a recent federal study, and 41 percent of them are in the state's rural areas. alabama broadband map.JPGThis map, which is several years old and was generated for the Connect Alabama effort, shows Broadband or high-speed Internet providers in rural Alabama. The lightest colored areas have 1 or 2 providers and the darkest have 5 or more providers. Part of the reason is business economics. Running fiber cable or using towers to beam Wi-Fi Internet access costs money. Private companies want a return on that investment. "If you've only got 50 or 60 customers (in a town)," explains Tim Erwin, owner and CEO of Huntsville's Traveller Multimedia Network, "how do you stay in business?" State Education Trust Fund money In the first phase of Bentley's plan, State Education Trust Fund money would match federal grants to build the fiber networks, Johnson said this week. The federal grant program is called E-rate, and it can pay up to 90 percent of the cost of running the fiber cable to rural areas. The federal share of the spending comes from fees paid by all Americans on their telephone bills now. Bentley says rural connectivity won't just improve schools, law enforcement communications and healthcare. He told the Legislature it will lead to "enhanced economic development opportunities." The governor offered few specifics on how the state will take to make that happen, but he did mention "cutting the bureaucracy" around Internet service now and providing infrastructure. Cutting the bureaucracy could mean making it easier for companies to access public rights of way and power poles to extend their services. It isn't immediately clear what "providing infrastructure" might mean. Opelika and Auburn One example of the complications is found in Opelika and neighboring Auburn. Opelika has a municipally owned and operated high-speed system that provides television, telephone and Internet service to customers - so-called "Triple Play" service. The city originally ran and connected its fiber cable to create a "smart" utility grid, then realized it could provide additional services. But Opelika is banned by state law from offering Internet service to next-door Auburn because Auburn isn't in the Opelika city limits. Fencing Opelika protects other commercial Internet providers. Those Internet providers, including large telecommunications companies such as AT&T, Comcast and Charter, are leery of publicly owned Internet, to say the least. But providing high-speed Internet to schools and libraries isn't as controversial. "We have provided school buildings with power, water and roads," Johnson said. "It's the government's role to also provide high-speed Internet." 'Not a horrible idea' "That's not a horrible idea at all," David Williams of the Washington-based Taxpayers Protection Alliance said Tuesday of the school initiative. "This is money that's already there," Williams said of the E-rate program. "I wouldn't want to see the tax rate increased to put into the program." Williams' organization opposes most publicly owned Internet as a bad investment. He does not agree that providing high-speed Internet is "a core government service." Devil in the details? Back at Huntsville's Traveller Multimedia Network, Erwin is already serving rural areas with wireless connectivity across 2,700 square miles of North Alabama, including service for major new developments like the Polaris plant in areas without fiber access. "The issue comes down to how you make it happen," Erwin said of expanding service. He believes Bentley is sincere, but he's worried that big players could have undue influence in what happens next. "The usual suspects," he calls them.
