Stacked panel on municipal broadband?

Cox and BellSouth (and other big network companies) hate the idea that local governments or utilities – say, in Lafayette, La. -- might set up shop to offer their own fiber networks to local residents. No surprise in that. The two companies invited a panel of experts to Lafayette this week to opine on the local utility district's plans to enter the high-speed network and – again, big shocker – all three experts said it wasn't a good idea.

We've written a bit about this, and think municipal districts are a good idea. They may not be perfect, but the lobbying pressure of the big networks show that the little guys might be on to something. Maybe people actually want fiber connections, even if the telcos and cable companies aren't ready to provide them. Certainly there are plenty of outlying areas that can't get any broadband at all, and it seems desperately unfair to bar them from doing it themselves.