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im- I akea \thu- oth- nd if lean ,ally I~e: 'vel- :hey lt a I sbe tur· 1urt eOO I ting late ion- I ::~ .;en- on't l1ike ,nal can I she eve nt)· kes IO~ I I I I I I I I I I .., rJ Telecommunications Walking the High Wire By developing their own telecommunications networks with the help of the private sector. cities and counties can provide enhanced services to their citizens while reaping mJJJions in revenues. By Herbert Lindsay From the earli- est days of the Age of Tele- communications, the founders and leaders of the in- dustry have pro- moted a single , guiding principle: that telephones would be avallable in every home and business in the United States, But increased competition and rapid developments in telecommunica- tions technology have brought about many changes since the invention of the telephone ~ven decades ago. Now, a revolution IB ~der way that will bring enhanced &eTV1ces such as teleconferencing, mes- sage forwarding, electronic mail, low- cost long distance connections and a host of other con venìences to the aver- age telephone user. As a result, it may be time to rethink the basis of the telephone delivery sys- ten~ - ~he exclusive telephone monop- oly - In favor of a private, non-mo- nopah'. open delivery system. Infor:mation partnerships made up of public and private interests may be part of the future for cities and COWl- " , AM.RICAN CITY' COUNTY July 1"4 . ...., . ...,.,'~ ~""-jo"- ties seeking new revenues, By pooling resources, cities can purchase telecom- munications services at the lowest possible rate while providing their cit- izens with the advanced services they need and demand. Under the municipality's power to form utility networks, cities would purchase telecommunications services through the private sector and then re- distribute these services and the re- sulting savings back to their citizens. The city assumes the public role of owner~administrator of the network and in return, the public entity re- ceives non-tax revenues from the oper- l""">""~p 'n ~i.., ':- "...., ~ ' ation of the system while its residents enjoy low-cost tele- com services due to bundling oflong dis- tance and local tele- phone service. No single tele- communications provider - neither American Tele- phone & Telegraph (AT&T) nor any of the regional Bells - can duplicate the cost savings, prod- uct availability and services provided by information part- nerships. Quite sim- ply, partnerships combine the clout of group buying power with the competi- tion for services offered by the private sector. Many cities, with authority granted to them by state legislatures, already provide utility networks for the deliv- ery of water, sewage treatment, elec- tricity and natural gas and more than 50 communities already are providing telecommunications services tD their citizens, including Anchorage and Fairbanks in Alaska, Churchill Coun- ty and Fallon in Nevada, and Brook- ings, Beresford, and Faith, S.D. Vail, Colo., provides its citizens with pay phone service. 39 ... 1., ",~ ~