• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, July 7, 2014

A proposal by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to end restrictions on muni-broadband networks is drawing cheers from the National League of Cities. Local governments should have the flexibility to address broadband and Internet access in a way that meets the needs of the people they serve, the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties and National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors says in a letter sent to the FCC late last week.

The organizations add that increasing competition at the local level "has never been more important." The groups' letter comes one month after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler vowed to nix state laws discouraging municipal broadband.

Wheeler first proposed doing away with restrictions on muni broadband as part of a package for new Net neutrality regulations. While neutrality advocates criticize other elements of his plan -- especially the proposal that would allow providers to create pay-for-play fast lanes -- they generally support the proposal to set aside restrictions on municipal networks.

Largely, that's because muni networks exert competitive pressure on telecoms and cable companies. That type of pressure can lead to lower prices and faster service, and potentially can discourage incumbents from interfering with traffic. After all, local cable companies might not be eager to slow down video streams from, say, Netflix, if consumers have realistic alternatives. Already, some cities that have built their own fiber-to-the-home networks are able to offer local residents and businesses faster and cheaper service than what's available from the local telecom or cable company.

Consider, in 2010, the city of Chattanooga, Tenn. began rolling out what was then the fastest network in the country: fiber-to-the-home connections with maximum speeds of 1 Gbps. Several years earlier, when Wilson, N.C. rolled out its fiber-optic network in 2008, the city was able to offer residents the fastest and cheapest network in the area. Incumbent providers clearly view the prospect of community broadband as a threat -- so much so that they've responded by lobbying state lawmakers for laws restricting cities from creating their own broadband networks. Often, these efforts have succeeded; almost two dozen states now have restrictions on muni-broadband. Among them is Tennessee, where a relatively new law is preventing Chattanooga's network from expanding.

At the national level, lawmakers are weighing in on the proposal to nix restrictions on municipal networks. So far, the reaction seems to be divided along partisan lines. In mid-June, a group of Republican senators criticized any plan to “ursurp state policy.” "State political leaders are accountable to the voters who elect them, and the Commission would be well-advised to respect state sovereignty,” they wrote. Two weeks later, Democrats took the opposite stance. “Communities are often best suited to decide for themselves if they want to invest in their own infrastructure and to choose the approach that will work best for them,” Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Al Franken (D-Minn.) and others wrote. “We urge you and your colleagues to utilize the full arsenal of tools Congress has."

The Democrats asked Wheeler to come forward by July 27 with a specific plan for community broadband.