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楼主 / dftimes
- 时间: 2022-10-24 12:13Cities take control of their telecommunication networks. A financial saving of the town and its citizens. An idea to implement in Quebec?
An error during an update. This is what caused the Rogers network to go down last July, depriving millions of people across the country of Internet access. This incident once again revealed the danger of relying on a handful of Internet providers to deliver such an essential service.
What if the solution was to think small? Since 1994, the City of Stockholm has been running a fibre-optic network to which over 90% of households and 99% of businesses can access.
This is known as municipal Internet and its advantages are clear: a generally efficient service, accessible in areas previously poorly equipped, allowing cities and the companies established there to acquire a digital infrastructure.
To the south, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been operating a broadband network since 2010.
When the school went virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the administration was able to offer free unlimited Internet access to 17,000 low-income families.
These cities are far from alone: in the United States alone, more than 600 communities are served by municipal Internet.
"Given that municipalities are already building and operating large infrastructure projects, including... power grids, transit systems, and roads, they are well positioned... to build and operate their own telecommunications networks," says a case study that looks at the experience of Calgary, which implemented municipal Internet some 20 years ago. The study notes that the network has saved the city nearly $20 million.
A 2018 Harvard University study reported that municipal rates were lower than private companies over a four-year period. Given that the bottom 20% of Canadian households spend nearly 10% of their income on communications services, these savings could provide relief to families.
"Internet access is too important to leave it in the hands of the market and private players," says Jason Hardebeck, who is in charge of building Baltimore's broadband network, in an interview with Bloomberg. What are we waiting for to put the municipal Internet on the agenda? -
Cities take control of their telecommunication networks.
