I do encourage you to consider how local choice and competition can increase the broadband opportunities for your citizens. I love the story of Lafayette, La., where the local incumbent fought the city’s fiber network tooth and nail, bringing multiple court challenges and triggering a local referendum on the project. Thankfully, none of the challenges managed to prevent deployment — 62 percent of voters approved of the network in the referendum, and the Louisiana Supreme Court unanimously sided with the city — but they did delay deployment almost three years. When the network was finally built, the community experienced the benefits of competition, as the local cable operator decided to upgrade its network. Local choice and competition are about as American as you can get.
— FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, speaking at the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors Annual Conference in St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 1