Iowa communities team to install own high-speed lines

Iowa has long expressed an independent voice in national politics. Now it’s doing the same thing with broadband.

More than 80 communities across Iowa have banded to create Opportunity Iowa. The goal: to wire the state for advanced voice, data and video services. The communities represent about 25% of the state’s homes and businesses, and more are expected to join later.

By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2004-11-12-mcleod_x.htm

Under the plan, communities would install — on their own dime — high-speed fiber lines. Then they would invite outside vendors such as AT&T to use the lines. The lines could be used to provide voice, data and video services to homes and businesses. Vendors would pay towns "access" fees to use their fiber lines, just as the local Bells charge AT&T and MCI fees for handling their long-distance calls.

The initiative is being spearheaded by a Who’s Who of the state, including telecom millionaire Clark McLeod, former Iowa governors Terry Branstad and Robert Ray, and former Iowa attorney general Bonnie Campbell.

"We want Iowa to be No. 1 in the country" in terms of its broadband infrastructure, says McLeod, a native Iowan.

Iowa is the newest entrant into what is fast becoming a broadband revolution across the USA. The movement is gaining momentum as more communities recognize that it could take the big phone and cable companies years to get to them.

Frustrated with the wait, a lot of communities say they have no choice but to build their own networks.

"If we depend on the superlarge carriers, we’ll never get it," says Brian Thompson, founder and chairman of iTown — short for Interactive Town. ITown is working with several foreign governments as well as other U.S. states, including West Virginia, to bring broadband to rural areas.

Thompson’s perspective has been colored by years of fighting in the telecom trenches. Thompson was the executive vice president of MCI during its highflying days in the 1990s. He is also the former chairman and CEO of LCI International, at one time one of the USA’s largest long-distance carriers.

Thompson says his biggest worry is that the USA could fall far behind other nations that are racing to deploy fiber at a blistering rate.

McLeod shares the same concern. He thinks the broadband movement in Iowa will have a big influence on other states. That, in turn, could speed fiber deployment everywhere.

"We are right at the front end of a major movement in the United States," he predicts.

McLeod says he decided to put his telecom muscle, as well as his millions, to work for the state after it became clear that the big carriers weren’t going to show up.

Qwest, which provides basic phone service to about 70% of the state, has said it doesn’t intend to deploy high-speed fiber lines in rural Iowa anytime soon.

McLeod says that isn’t acceptable.

"We believe we can fiberize this entire state in 10 years," says McLeod, who is contributing his own money and time to help make it happen.

McLeod has a track record to back up his boast. In 1980, he founded Teleconnect, an Iowa-based long-distance company. He eventually built it up into the USA’s fourth-largest carrier, with more than 6,000 employees. McLeod sold it to MCI WorldCom (now MCI) in 1990 for $1.25 billion. Since then, he’s been involved in a string of telecom companies.

The big incumbents, like Verizon and SBC Communications, have announced aggressive plans to deploy high-speed fiber lines throughout their territories. But a lot of those rollouts aren’t focused on smaller towns.

SBC is also rolling out fiber rapidly. On Thursday, it said it plans to build a fiber-optic network that could support voice, data and video services, including Internet-based TV.

Eric Rabe, a spokesman for Verizon, says his company has no problem with initiatives like Opportunity Iowa, provided the playing field is "level for everybody."