Senate committee approves bill to keep states from preventing cities seeking wireless networks on their own
Posted Jun 30th 2006 1:20PM by Michael Sciannamea
Filed under: WiFi, MAN - muni, Government, Business
By a 15 to 7 vote, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation have approved a bill that will prevent states from prohibiting municipalities from getting into the citywide wireless business. Therefore, bills such as the one passed in Pennsylvania back in 2004 through the intense lobbying by Verizon after the announcement of the Wireless Philadelphia deal with EarthLink may be a thing of the past.
The bill will be going to the full Senate for an up or down vote. It takes a while for bills to get consideration in Congress, but if passed, the telcos and cable companies that have been bitching and moaning about cities making their own deals for municipal WiFi will have to pipe down and offer meaningful alternatives.
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