'Verizon bill' is now Pa. law: amendment puts a curb on towns' ability to overbuild.

Multichannel News, December, 2004 by Haugsted, Linda

Shunting aside opposition from consumer groups, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has signed a Verizon Communications Inc.-backed telecom reform bill that includes language that curbs municipal broadband overbuilds after 2006. Though critics called the bill anti-competitive, in a Dec. 1 statement announcing his approval, Rendell noted that Pennsylvania has a mandate for universal broadband access by 2015.

The bill will speed universal deployment ahead of that date, said Rendell, a Democrat. It will also provide other consumer benefits, he said, such as making more subscribers eligible to purchase low-cost lifeline service. Philadelphia and other cities questioned the bill because the anti-overbuild language was inserted deep into the amendment of the...

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