Four days before the start of the WCA 2002 Convention in Boston, and knowing of all the Broadband Wireless Internet Access technology that will be on display to solve exactly this problem (!!!), seeing this Nando Times article just amused me to no end...
(Begin excerpt)
Ameritech Fined; Ordered To Wire Appalachia For The Internet
By John McCarthy, Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (June 20, 2002 8:14 p.m. EDT) - The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's ruling on Thursday to fine SBC Ameritech $8.5 million for inadequate service also includes an order for the state's largest local phone company to help rewire Appalachia for the Internet.
The PUCO upheld a Jan. 31 ruling that Ameritech had appealed. In its original ruling, the regulators told Ameritech to open 20 central offices in the southeast Ohio region. But on Thursday, Chairman Alan Schriber said that was not practical.
The order requires Ameritech to work with the Governor's Office of Appalachia and its director, Joy Padgett, to bring high-speed Internet capability to the region.
(End fair use excerpt. See the entire article online at http://www.nando.net/technology/story/441493p-3532284c.html)
For the $8.5M fine that Ameritech will be paying (the PUCO originally authorized a fine of up to $122M!), not to mention the cost of opening those 20 central offices, would go a very long way towards providing Broadband Internet Access service to Appalachia residents with cost-effective, quick-to-deploy Broadband Wireless Internet Access systems. As in being able to deliver broadband Internet services to the vast majority of Appalachia residents within eighteen months, with better broadband Internet services for a fraction of the cost of upgrading the wiring and constructing additional central offices. Perhaps someone in the Broadband Wireless Internet Access industry can quickly extend an invitation to Ameritech, PUCO personnel, and Appalachian development personnel to attend the WCA Conference in Boston (a mere 746 miles, per Mapquest). Thanks to Newshub.com's Technology News for the pointer to this story.
Steve Stroh
Copyright (c) 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh, excluding the Associated Press excerpt. This article was originally published on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted by Radio Userland.