The Nebraska Broadband Task Force has held its third meeting.  The task force was given $200,000 and two years to study broadband access and to decide what role government entities should be allowed play. The report is due in December 2006 and there are only four more meetings planned.

Most of the discussion has revolved around defining related terms and whether broadband service provided by government entities presented unfair competition for the private sector. After a number of articles and letters in the press describing the lack of broadband service in rural and urban areas the discussion began to move toward public and private partnerships. There is a great deal more to be discussed and very little time to find a solution.

Common Cause Nebraska believes LB645, the bill creating a prohibition on public entities offering broadband service, should be repealed. If the private sector can not or will not provide state wide service at a reasonable price then the public sector needs to step in. Why should underserved citizen and business interests be forced to pay two and three times the price for high speed computer service?