Court throws out Monticello, MN telco attempt to block muni fiber

The people of the smallish burg of Monticello, MN may actually be allowed to build and pay for their own fiber network after all. Defying all conventional logic, the local Telco expected the courts to enforce their total monopoly over fixed line broadband access. This time, sound judgment prevailed. Our corrupt Congress should take notes, and the duopoly should be put on notice. Until we open the market to real competition by private enterprise,we will be seeing more of this.

Just as a service provider should be free to offer whatever level of service it feels is appropriate (in this case relatively slow DSL), a municipality should be free to offer better if they feel that the incumbent is not offering adequate service. The Muni built network is a last resort solution that was arrived at after many attempts to have the monoploy deliver bandwidth that meets current deamnd. If the telco in question, TDS telecom, wanted to preserve its monopoly, they needed to provide satisfactory service instead of suing to force the public to accept less.

(story at StarTribune.com)