Ohio

Municipal Broadband

• Akron OH :: WAZMetro :: Wifi
• Bryan Municipal Light and Water Utilities
• eVantage Ohio
• Cincinnati
  • Cincinnati Launches Mostly Free Wi-Fi Network, Networking Pipeline 5/5/2006
• Cuyahoga Falls :: WAZMetro :: Wifi
• Dalton :: Fiber : Mesh Network : Wireless off of water tower : had Muni Electric ::
• Dublin | Wifi | 32k pop | 21 sq mi |
• Lebanon :: Hybrid Fiber Coax :: 16,900 k pop ::
  • For the years 2002, 2003 and 2004, the communications network in Lebanon has lost over one million dollars a year. - The Need to Permit Broadband from Public Entities, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, p. 51 (May 2006) PDF:: Telecom, Cable TV, High Speed Internet, Telephone Service :: Owned and Operated by City through partnership with Cincinnati Bell Telephone :: Internet vendor is Go Concepts, Inc. the exclusive provider on the City's HFC network :: Over Cable :: $45.95 / month without delux cable service :: 10 Mbps Down and 4 Mbps Up ::
  • Cable, data, telephone services. Established 1998. Cap Investment Projected to be $6 mil, now $8.5 million. $1,500 investment per household. Cash flow per sub is negative in 2004 at a rate of $37 monthly. Rates up each year since 1999; 3,550 CATV subs, 1,950 Internet, and 4,600 phone. - Municipal Broadband: Digging Beneath the Surface, Balhoff & Rowe, LCC, p. 34 (Sept. 2005)
• Law
  • TW Cable v City of Lebanon, CA2005-01-002, 12th Ohio Court of Appeals (municipality cannot force commercial ISPs to connect o the city network and pay the city a connection fee of up to $2000 for each customer they sign up - note, this case does not touch on whether the munib is legal - it touches on whether interconnection can be required).
  • Chapter 1332 – Fair competition in Cable Operations
  • Bill to restrict municipal broadband introduced in Ohio, Muni 12/21/2004

VoIP

• Ohio PUC VoIP FAQs
• Case Number: 03-0950-TP-COI

Case Title: REVIEW OF COMMISSION INVESTIGATION INTO VOIP
Status: UI - UNDER INVESTIGATION
Industry Code: TP - TELEPHONE
Purpose Code: COI - Commission inquiry
Opened: 04/09/2003    Closed: [nothing in this field]

Date Filed: 04/17/2003 12:15 PM
Document Type: ENT - Entry
Number of Pages: 5
Case Numbers:  03-0950-TP-COI
Summary: Entry ordering that VoIP providers complete and docket the attached VoIP Questionnaire, Appendix A, by May 16, 2003; that all telephone companies and other interested persons filing comments in response to the questions posed in Finding 3 should do so by June 13, 2003; reply comments should be filed by July 11, 2003, and shall be served upon all of those persons who have filed initial comments.
To see the docket page, go to http://dis.puc.state.oh.us/  and type in 03-950.
Order initiating Investigation
Media Release  PUCO to Examine Voice Services Offered via Internet April 17, 2003

Questionnaire:

Is your company providing any form of VolP services in Ohio?
If so, what type of VolP service is being provided in Ohio?
Please describe your network configuration and your call completion path.
Specifically, which areas in Ohio are you offering service?
Please describe your customer base.

• Trials and Market Deployments
• Armstrong Cable Services
• field trial Putting VoIP to the Crash Test, CED May 2002;
• Armstrong Cable in partnership with Vonage offering Zoom Phone Service. Balancing Responsibilities and Rights: A Regulatory Model for Facilities-Based VoIP Competition An NCTA Policy Paper February 2004; Vonage Cables in Armstrong VoIP Deal,  Internet News (June 10, 2003)
• TWCIS
• Application for certification filed November 5, 2003  Case 03-581-TP-ACE  Docket
• PUCO Clarifies Entry Regarding VoIP Services Feb 11, 2004
• Final Tariffs filed by TWCIS Dec. 24, 2003
• PUCO Authorizes Time Warner to Provide VoIP Services Ohio PUC Dec 17, 2003
• In authorizing Time Warner to provide VoIP services, the Commission notes that VoIP is a new technology. The question of whether VoIP services are subject to state and/or federal regulation remains unanswered. The Commission is currently reviewing the jurisdictional and regulatory issues pertaining to VoIP services in Case Number 03-950-TP-COI. Other state commissions, various courts, and the Federal Communications Commission are also exploring these issues.

     In its application, Time Warner did not concede that the Commission has jurisdiction and reserved the right to argue that the VoIP services are not subject to federal or state regulation. Time Warner did indicate that, if authorized to provide VoIP services, the company would comply with both the Commission's competitive retail service rules and the minimum telephone service standards.
     The Commission authorized Time Warner to provide VoIP services pending resolution of the Commission's VoIP jurisdictional issue. The Commission stated in its order that until the jurisdictional issues are decided, it would be unfair to penalize Time Warner for notifying the Commission of its intent to offer VoIP services to the public and to substantially comply with the Commission's rules.
• Minutes of Commission Meeting Dec. 17, 2003
• "03-2229-TP-ACE Time Warner Cable Information Services (Ohio) LLC (Proposed finding and order) Discussed.  Approval moved and seconded, vote 5-0."
• December 17, 2003 Entry (OCR)
• (5) As noted above, the threshold issue in our 03^-950 generic investigation is the Commission's jurisdiction over Vo^lP providers, the resolution of which may be impacted by proceedings in the court system and at the federal level.  Until that threshold jurisdictional issue is decided, it would be unfair to penalize TWCIS for taking affirmative action to notify the Conu^nission of the manner in which it proposes to offer Voll? services to the public and for its good faith effort to substantially comply with our competitive retail service rules and the MTS^S.  Therefore, pending resolution of the threshold jurisdictional issue, we authorize TWCIS to provide IP^-based voice services in the manner set forth in the company's application.  This case shall remain open pending the outcome of the 03^-950 docket.  The decisions that the Commission makes in the 03^-950 docket shall apply to TWCIS.

.....
It is, therefore,
ORDERED, That TWCIS is authorized to operate in accordance with finding 5. It is, further,
ORDERED, That the authority to operate afforded TWCIS herein is contingent upon the outcome of the 03^-950 docket and, to that end, this case shall remain open until final resolution of the 03^-950 docket.  The decisions that the Conu^nission makes in the 03^-950 docket shall apply to ^TWCIS.
• Cablecos Set Sights on VoIP, Xchange February 1, 2004
• Time Warner Cable reaches VoIP deals CNET Dec 8, 2003