I proposed the entire seperation of the First/Last mile access from the RBOCs and the cable companies several years ago. Finally, people seem to start wakening with the emerging of the Municipal Networks. But the fighting is still going on.
Thanks for the lead to the excellent article by ftth on the board of The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum
wetmachine.com 
Tales of the Sausage Factory: “Return of the Telco Legislation” Now Playing in Indiana
...... I keep thinking of the shmoo in the context of municipal networks. Municipal networks offer to bring broadband — an increasingly necessary commodity for business, education, and generally participating as a citizen in society at large — at an affordable rate to places that otherwise couldn't get it or can't afford the $50/month subscriber fee. So telcos and cable cos have aggressively fought to kill munie systems by getting state legislatures comfortably removed from the municipalities in question to pass laws prohibitting such systems (and usually including huge subsidies to get the telcos and cable cos to provide worse service as an added bonus).
When asked to justify this, the telcos and their supporters argue that it is axiomatically bad, unfair and not nice for municipal governments to compete with the private sector. They usually assert that munies can tax and regulate in a discriminatory fashion (not true, due process prevents such discrimination) or that munies enjoy special privileges (although incumbents are not shy about special privileges and subsidies for themselves). Mostly, they argue that it is just _wrong_ for the public sector to provide things that the private sector can provide (other than education, water, electric power, and the occassional donation of land or tax breaks to bring in a private business). Like Al Capp's “big businessmen,” the telcos and cable cos see the munie-shmoo as unpatriotic and unamerican and a threat to society as we know it becuase their very existence challenges the status quo.
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