While at risk of straying far from the original topic I would like to
add a comment regarding the penetration of broadband in the US.

My observations are based on a report on PBS. It was probably a
FrontLine program at least six months ago.

They reported on a town in Louisiana that installed their own community
based and financed broadband fiber-optic network to everyone in the
town. 

Two factors that were considered. The local telecommunications
companies, as are all of the similar companies in the US have been
collecting a tax (fee) on their telecommunications that was supposed to
have been spent on upgrading the system. This tax has been in place for
about twenty years. The companies have been putting the income from the
tax/fee toward the bottom line on their revenue statement for all these
years.

The local companies were not upgrading the system and indicated they
would not. The companies sued the town when they tried to implement
their own system using a special tax the town levied on its citizens.
The lawsuit was dismissed and work was proceeding at the time of the
report. The installation was going in post Katrina

Mention was made that the town was only one of several that were doing
similar projects.

Harold

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