cajun4x4
join:2000-10-02
Baytown, TX
 ·ViaTalk
| Government saying what is right for the people.
Are we not all for keeping out big government out of our business. Boy this sure opens up a can of worms when they start getting notices that there are people using p2p on the network and sharing copyrighted material. Point being that no government should have any control on an information service like this or telephone. There are always cases of misuse or abuse. |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·DSL EXTREME
| 6 of one... half dozen of the other. There are cases of misuse/abuse from corporate America as well.
Would you be less concerned about...
- Having your billing/cs performed overseas (i.e. people overseas in other countries having access to your SSN)
- Having corporate 'packet shaping', 'content filtering (yeah you, AT&T)
- Companies selling your marketing info (to preferred business partners aka data miners) to keep your rates low.
- Being part of a corporate run enterprise, which means you are a statistic, and we don't care as long as we make money from you.
OR
- We are the government, ELECTED locally to run YOUR LOCAL Cable Co.
- We keep rates low, because we're not out to make a profit.. our CEO is the mayor, not someone that flys over you, never to see what you (or your town) wants/needs. Besides, we can always raise taxes.
- We are the government... NSA is part of our life... accept it and move on. |
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soothsayer15
join:2002-03-01
Irving, TX
1 edit | reply to cajun4x4
They're going to find out how expensive it really is to run an ISP. I don't think they have any clue how long it's going recoup $39,000,000 while incurring expenses. $39 Million is $15,000 for each of the 2600 customers they're getting. Buying bandwidth, hiring billing and tech support reps, network engineers, network admins on top of paying their benefits isn't going to be anywhere close to cheap. Don't forget about maintenance on the fiber and cable out in field.
Maybe they'll fund this with a bond, but I doubt it. No one votes for tax increases unless it's for schools. The guy in the article said the business plan made sense to him. I don't see how. |
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ricep5
Premium
join:2000-08-07
Jacksonville, FL
·AT&T Southeast
·AT&T CallVantage
·VoicePulse
·Comcast Formerly ..
| $39 million is $41 a sub/month over a 30 year bond. That is pretty high for a purchase. Either they expect to increase the sub count in a big way, or they serve some fairly wealthy clients. Even at Comcast rates the gross margin for a non internet sub will be very small.
Most commercial cable buyouts have been in the $21-$28/mo per sub range. The last muni analysis I saw was around $14/mo per sub. |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | There's probably more to it then that. The city is probably figuring the money they'll save in running their own network vs paying for it to outsiders at the moment. |
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tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL
·Speakeasy
| reply to soothsayer15
said by soothsayer15  :T$39 Million is $15,000 for each of the 2600 customers they're getting. "Towns in north Mecklenburg and south Iredell counties approved the purchase"..
I counted a lot more than 2600 customers..
"Cornelius officials voted 4-1 to transfer 2,600 customers to the north Meck-south Iredell system but not have an ownership stake."
"The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners will vote Tuesday on transferring another 1,500 customers."
from their FAQ..
"How many customers will MI-Connection have?
The company will have an immediate customer base of approximately 10,500 customers."
Maybe more.. given the recent activity which probably not included in the FAQ. ~15,000 customers for 39M$... $2600 per household.. not bad..
If they offer a good deal, they'll pickup another 40 to 70% more customers using the same infrastructure. (Note: average cable penetration ~50% of households they pass by.) |
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