Glad I reread this bill recently, because turns out, it was amended and HB648, and the GUMBO broadband grant program it creates, is now a giveaway to major telecom corporations.

Allow me to explain at great length https://twitter.com/JacksonVoss/status/1386704202123124738

So, originally, I felt that HB648 was a good (if imperfect) way of using ARPA dollars, specifically because it allowed nonprofits (including local governments) with very little or no service to develop partnerships to build broadband infrastructure https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1212352

In fact, thanks to that definition of partnerships, the scoring system in the bill incentivized working with local govs!

There are lots of good criticisms of PPPs (most I agree with) but for cash-strapped locals, this is usually better than handing money directly to telecoms

Sadly, that's exactly what the new HB648 has changed - specifically because the amended bill completely removes the very inclusive partnership definition... https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1217657

While also adding this provision, prohibiting local govs from serving as internet service providers (ISPs) or collecting any sort of revenue from broadband provision (such as, for example, leasing out locally owned infrastructure to private ISPs)

You may be asking yourself, why is this a problem?

Let's talk about the state of broadband in Louisiana, the Fair Competition Act, and how we get our internet services (most of the charts and numbers will be coming from BroadbandNow, just fyi) https://broadbandnow.com/Louisiana 

Short version of this story is - Louisiana is technically not the worst in the country in terms of broadband access. But we're not great.

About 1 in 4 Louisianans don't have *broadband access.

About 2 in 5 don't have **affordable broadband access.

* broadband is a wired connected that reaches at least 3 megabits per second (mbps) for upload speeds and up to 25 mbps for download speeds. So anything faster than dial-up.

** affordable broadband is generally considered to be anything less than $60 a month.

A lot of folks have "access" to 25 mbps - but very few parishes have 1 Gigabit per second (generally requires having fiber-optic broadband - which is the gold standard).

25 mbps is probably enough for one person to stream Netflix as long as you're not also on your phone

Most Louisianans have wireline service - but not fiber. Most also have cable satellite. Neither are as fast or reliable as fiber for most modern Internet use, unless you can afford a more expensive, higher speed plan

So, there's a whole lot of folks in the state who need a big investment in broadband infrastructure.

Both because a lot of people just don't have access to adequate speed and even more people don't have access to affordable Internet plans.

HB 648 - the GUMBO Grant Program - was intended to fix that. And as I posted earlier in this thread, I think it could have helped. Except now local govs are prohibited from playing a role.

This is a mistake for a number of reasons.

First, Internet is really a public utility, like electricity, water, sewage, etc. It wasn't always the case - but today, Internet is inextricable from our daily lives and economic well being.

Whether its for school, work, leisure - we all need the Internet in our modern lives.

Second, the reason so many communities don't have Internet access or access to affordable Internet is BECAUSE Louisiana handed over all control of this essential utility to private, for-profit telecommunications corporations like AT&T, Cox, Verizon, and so on, in the early 2000s

As a proud LUSFiber customer, it brings me no joy to report that the country's best municipally owned utility is the reason for all of this.

Sadly, it is extremely hard to find articles covering this. Presumably because no one had Internet back then https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LUSFiber 

Anyway, in 2004, Lafayette and LUS announced it was going big on broadband infrastructure and internet service.

Predictably, Big Telecom was not happy, crying "unfair competition" https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2005-01-10-broadband-bellsouth-our_x.htm

You see, utilities - like your local electricity and gas providers - tend to get natural monopolies because its not economical to (1) have competition in a local market for goods everyone needs because you can only support so much infrastructure and...

(2) for public utilities to work - whether or not they are privately or publicly operated - you need a lot of public investment in infrastructure.

Powerlines, sewer drainage, gas pipes, etc - it doesn't make sense to have duplication of those things. And
profit seeking companies don't want to invest in them anyway.

Why?

Because it's a money loser.

This is actually why so many rural areas don't have reliable (or any) internet service. Because they can't afford or don't build the infrastructure that telecoms can then use to provide service - and they aren't going to build it themselves.

Infrastructure is rarely profitable. But offering services after infrastructure has been built? Easy money.

That's why LUSFiber was so frightening to titans of industry like AT&T. It was the first step towards recognizing Internet service as a basic public service, not a luxury.

So, what'd they do about it?

The Local Government Fair Competition Act (FCA), which bans local governments from providing broadband Internet service. This ensured that telecoms wouldn't have to compete - either with one another, or with "public option" Internet services.

Now, the FCA was always going to make GUMBO complicated - there was always going to have to be private ISPs after the infrastructure got built.

But now its fully embodied in the program in a way that closes the door on ensuring affordable broadband Internet across Louisiana.

That's because, rather than local govs building infrastructure and then telecoms competing to provide services, now the telecoms can just own the infrastructure and get federal dollars too.

And who knows if they'd even be held to the "building the infrastructure" part.

Anyway, a lot of tweets. HB 648 had some promise. But now we need to start from scratch.

Louisiana legislators shouldn't let Big Telecom call the shots any more and guarantee broadband Internet as a fundamental economic right. That means letting local govs provide Internet.