GAO outlined an array of broadband deployment options and...

GAO outlined an array of broadband deployment options and concerns to three Democratic lawmakers in a Wednesday report. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., had requested the study “to provide information on options for broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas,” GAO said in the 45-page report (http://1.usa.gov/QFwQpg). The economics of providing such access are very difficult, it said. GAO interviewed FCC officials and stakeholders from 40 groups, reviewing 21 broadband projects in the process, it said, delving into different types of networks, whether municipally owned, cooperative or private in nature. Project heads told GAO they take into account demand for broadband and the different possible technologies they can use to provide access. It mentioned the streamlined procedures Google received in building its fiber network in Kansas City, Mo.: “The city helped facilitate an agreement for use of certain utility easements -- the areas surrounding power lines -- for approximately 90,000 utility poles owned by Kansas City Power and Light, a local utility owned by private investors,” GAO said. “The city negotiated with Google Fiber the use of these rights-of-way and of city properties free of charge in exchange for the company’s construction of a $250-$300 million fiber-optic network to serve homes with Internet and video service, as well as an agreement to provide free Internet connectivity to 300 public buildings, schools, community centers, and libraries.” Google Fiber has also been building this network in Kansas City, Kan., where it deals with that municipality. Some project heads and industry officials warned GAO of state legal barriers to deploying broadband, which also became a factor of consideration. “According to one legal expert who works with states that we contacted, as of May 2013, 20 states had in place restrictions on community broadband services or other public communications initiatives,” GAO said, citing the Baller Herbst Law Group. Stakeholders also attacked the accuracy of the National Broadband Map. It “shows the top half of an Indiana county as covered by broadband service and the bottom half as not covered, but in reality the entire county only has access to dial-up service (which is not considered broadband),” according to one official, GAO said. Telecom and cable stakeholders worry about overbuilding private networks with projects funded by public money, they told GAO.