As Vermont works toward universal broadband, technical and political questions stand in the way of the promise of fast, reliable service to all corners of the state. On the technical level, the main issues are speed and which technology is deployed to deliver the service. The statutory minimum for broadband speed was outdated as soon as it was adopted. It is inadequate for most families and entrepreneurs. On the political level, the issue is that different state entities with different missions are working at cross-purposes to one another.
The Legislature and governor established the Department of Public Service to represent consumers’ interest in utility matters and the Public Service Board to adjudicate contested utility cases when called upon. It also created the Vermont Telecom Authority to promote the establishment of universal broadband and to channel capital resources to build the telecommunications infrastructure. Gov. Shumlin established Connect Vermont to serve as his administration’s broadband spokesperson and to be the marketing guru to pull it all together. Add to this bubbling cauldron out-of-state corporate Internet providers who are locked in competition with each other for dominant market share.
We might be forgiven for expecting that Shumlin administration appointees would be working in sync with each other to achieve the greatest possible broadband coverage at the least cost. We might be forgiven, too, for expecting that taxpayer dollars would be allocated as effectively as possible. Unfortunately, neither of these expectations are being fulfilled.
The biggest problem at present is the settlement of the FairPoint bankruptcy that was negotiated by the Department of Public Service and approved by the Public Service Board last February. Several years ago, FairPoint Communications bought Verizon’s landlines. Initially it provided deplorable customer service and was fined $6.6 million in Vermont.
The recent settlement allows FairPoint to drawn down the $6.6 million in order to expand its DSL customer base, effectively rewarding it for its prior bad performance. True, this DSL expansion is proposed to go into communities that are currently unserved by broadband and DSL is far superior to dial-up, but FairPoint’s Internet service is delivered over copper wire, much of which is old and deteriorating. Speed is limited by the quality of the copper, the distance to the subscriber from the switching hub and the age of the switches themselves.
Because of this, while promoting speeds up to some big number, bandwidth from FairPoint in the more rural communities is severely limited. And as bandwidth requirements for Internet apps increase, the more inadequate DSL will become. In truth, DSL from Fairpoint is soon to be obsolete.
To add insult to injury, what DPS and the PSB have done is to allow FairPoint to use its penalty money to cherry-pick where it wants to go. And as a further insult, the Vermont Telecom Authority is facilitating this travesty by effectively making many so-called target areas off limits to all but FairPoint. Connect Vermont is proclaiming that this is a great idea.
The result? FairPoint has deliberately proposed to push into the very same towns where ECFiber was intending to expand with far superior fiber-optic phone and Internet and at lower cost. ECFiber is a municipally owned and subscriber-funded corporation dedicated to providing fiber-optic Internet to the last mile in each of its member towns. Its proposal would cost $4,300 in public money per location vs. $7,550 per location for FairPoint. Quite a difference!
The DPS FairPoint settlement meets the narrow definitions of the bankruptcy docket, but fails to deliver genuine bandwidth and fails to make efficient and effective use either of taxpayer money or the $6.6 million that FairPoint was fined. ECFiber’s proposal should be allowed to go forward and FairPoint should instead build in other unserved communities where there is no other proposal on the table. It is unfortunate that if FairPoint does extend DSL to those communities that can be better served by higher quality broadband, homes and businesses there will be saddled with inadequate Internet for years to come.
Beyond that, this is no way to attract young families and entrepreneurs to put down roots in rural Vermont. Is there no one in a position of leadership willing to balance public need with better use of public money and clean up this mess? We should expect nothing less.
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