On Jan 19, 2010, at 4:26 PM, Fletcher Kittredge wrote:
What do you want to know? We were the first NTIA grant announced. $32 million project to build rural *dark* fiber networks. The model was to form a new company which would be carrier neutral and just build and maintain rural dark fiber. A carrier's carrier; structural separation; prices based on cost plus margin, not what the market would bear, open access, non-discrimination.... This model seemed to resonate with the Feds. The local incumbents still seem to have a hard time believing we would get a government subsidy and then immediately give it away. A model where any carrier, including them, could have access to dark fiber on equal terms is beyond their ken.
This is similar to what I have been doing research on. I wonder if the cellular coverage outside the I-95 corridor will get better as a result of your efforts... I really should have gotten fed up with my local [ineffective] incumbents with enough time to develop a similar approach. I do wonder if the upcoming FCC broadband work will result in a similar policy being adopted. "We're all just overlay networks of the fiber" is a nice approach. - Jared