| reply to Doctor Olds
Re: Fiber is the answer. Japan has it and the US .. Fiber is cheap, but the labor to lay the fiber is very expensive. I think that if any of these companies tried to run fiber to the home for all their customers, they would go bankrupt.
It would seem to make sense that the fiber infrastructure should be considered just that - infrastructure - like highways, bridges, etc. Let the local governments issue bonds to fund the build of the fiber infrastructure. Those communities that find it important will vote to pass the issuing of the bonds.
Then to pay off the bonds and pay for maintenance, the community that owns the fiber can sell/rent access rights to the carriers - SBC, Verizon, AT&T, Covad, whoever...
Potentially, this could be a huge source of revenue for the local governments - why not? NYC makes a lot of money from charging toll on bridges where the bonds have long since been paid - as well as the fairs on the subway, which far exceeds the cost of maintenace. |
