I'm especially enthusiastic about their endorsement of open access.
I'm generally skeptical of such things, but I can see the point in local government (community != government, that's newspeak) taking a lead in running fiber in much the same way they do electricity and plumbing, mostly because it seems that fiber is sufficiently future proof - it seems plausible that transmission technology on fiber can keep up with domestic applications without having to rely on horrible stop-gap tech like ADSL.
But one thing is laying a cable, that's a largely neutral and objective undertaking, another is running a good ISP - that's a completely different beast. I strongly doubt a government run ISP is going to be great, especially if something happens and it turns into a cost centre, or if it's "awarded" to the highest bidder to run, or stuffed full of overpaid incompetents by way of political nepotism. As with anything government run, when first things starts going down that route, it's incredibly difficult to reverse.
I'm generally skeptical of such things, but I can see the point in local government (community != government, that's newspeak) taking a lead in running fiber in much the same way they do electricity and plumbing, mostly because it seems that fiber is sufficiently future proof - it seems plausible that transmission technology on fiber can keep up with domestic applications without having to rely on horrible stop-gap tech like ADSL.
But one thing is laying a cable, that's a largely neutral and objective undertaking, another is running a good ISP - that's a completely different beast. I strongly doubt a government run ISP is going to be great, especially if something happens and it turns into a cost centre, or if it's "awarded" to the highest bidder to run, or stuffed full of overpaid incompetents by way of political nepotism. As with anything government run, when first things starts going down that route, it's incredibly difficult to reverse.