Town Seeks Broadband Lifesaver From Challenger in Close NC Governor Race

Pinetops is left with few options after the Wilson City Council voted earlier this month to disconnect its Greenlight community broadband, after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision affirming North Carolina’s 2011 law banning cities from expanding government-run broadband outside their municipal boundaries. In December, several months after the FCC's order pre-empting the state law and also that of Tennessee, Wilson authorized expanding its Greenlight service into neighboring Pinetops, where it has provided electric service since 1972. But last month, the 6th Circuit said the FCC couldn’t pre-empt the state law, and the commission said it won’t appeal (see 1608290054). Two Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation to allow muni broadband expansion, but the bills aren’t seen as likely to pass (see 1609220037).

The elections may be an opportunity to change the direction of North Carolina broadband policy, said Pinetops officials. “We’re trying to get this in front of both" gubernatorial candidates, said Suzanne Coker-Craig, a Pinetops commissioner who owns a small screen-printing business there.

Earlier this month, Pinetops Mayor Steve Burress wrote to McCrory, attaching a town resolution urging repeal of the state law. “The law is not ‘protecting taxpayers,’ but is instead shutting off an important option to bring 21st century broadband infrastructure and competitive choice to our rural communities,” Burress wrote in the Sept. 13 letter. “That does not represent sound social or economic policy.” Pinetops met with McCrory’s staff Friday, but the state didn’t promise anything, said Pinetops town administrator Lorenzo Carmon: “We didn’t get anybody jumping up and down.” McCrory’s office didn’t comment.

Now, Pinetops hopes to gain Cooper as an ally, local officials said. The town is “very, very interested” in meeting the governor’s rival, Coker-Craig said. Cooper hasn’t taken a position on the issue in his campaign, but the Democrat comes from the same county as Pinetops, said Carmon. “The phone calls and contacts have been made" with Cooper, the town administrator said. “It’s just a matter of him looking at his schedule and knowing when he’s going to be back home again.” The town hopes to meet with Cooper within the next few weeks, said a Pinetops broadband consultant. Cooper’s office didn’t comment.

The North Carolina law should be familiar to the Democratic challenger -- as attorney general, it was Cooper who filed the lawsuit against the FCC in the 6th Circuit. But he distanced itself from the prohibition at the time. Speaking about the suit in a November article in The Wilson Times, Cooper said: “The Legislature has passed a lot of bad laws, but it is the job of the attorney general to defend state laws. … And I wish the governor and the General Assembly would stop passing so many bad laws that create litigation.”

McCrory could be vulnerable this election after suffering collateral damage from signing a controversial transgender bathroom law, which resulted in major events pulling out the state, said Ken Fellman, an attorney on local government issues. "If that state decides in this election to go in a different direction, it will be good for cities and good for broadband.” Cooper is up 3.6 percentage points, according to an average of Sept. 12-22 polls by RealClearPolitics.

Broadband is “basic economic infrastructure” and the muni issue is “a lot larger than our small town,” said Coker-Craig. She said she’s “pretty optimistic that the system will work” if people raise their voices. The upcoming election is opportunity for change, but “honestly, I think we have to work with whoever is in the governor’s office and whoever’s in the legislature,” she said. “It’s not a partisan, political issue. This is about economic advancement. Anybody in the governor’s office should be concerned about that.”

“Hopeful I’m not,” said Brent Wooten, another town commissioner who's a sales agent for Mercer Transportation. He contacted several legislators, the governor’s office and local TV stations without many results, he said. “We’re not letting this die, but ultimately on Oct. 28, Greenlight will officially cut the cord.” The election may mean a chance next year to reassess the state ban, he said, “but what are we going to do in the meantime?”

“It’s an uphill battle,” said Carmon. “These telecommunications companies have lobbyists walking around the halls every day, and trying to compete with them … is kind of difficult.”

No Greenlight

Pinetops locals said they don’t want to lose fiber internet from Greenlight. Coker-Craig said she has Greenlight at home, but not yet at her screen-printing shop due to an existing contract with CenturyLink. She often heads home when she needs to upload Adobe Illustrator and other large image files from her business, she said: “It’s so much faster than what we have here in the shop.” The CenturyLink DSL service is “incredibly slow and whenever there’s more than one of us on the computer … it’s snail’s pace,” she said: It’s not reliable -- a “light rain” can knock out service. Rather than go back to CenturyLink when Greenlight cuts off, Coker-Craig said she probably will go without home internet.

“Who is it going to help if Greenlight is disconnected?” asked Wooten. Businesses that came to Pinetops for the fiber broadband connection now may move to Wilson, he said. Wooten’s trucking logistics company increasingly relies on the internet, but CenturyLink service goes down frequently in Pinetops, he said. Before Greenlight arrived, Wooten used a wireless hot spot as backup connection for times when the DSL service went down, he said. After buying Greenlight service, uptime significantly increased, he said. At home, the faster connection enables movie streaming and helps Wooten’s 8-year-old son do homework, he said.

“CenturyLink has invested more than $4 billion to date to bring high-speed internet to residents and businesses in North Carolina,” a spokeswoman said. She said residential customers in the Pinetops municipal area are able to receive speeds up to 100 Mbps, and business customers can get 1 Gbps speeds. “CenturyLink also works hard to support local economic development efforts,” she said. “The best approach is for municipalities to explore workable solutions with existing internet service providers. CenturyLink will continue to work closely with communities, local leaders and policymakers on creative public-private partnerships that bring high-speed internet services to more American homes and businesses. However, if local governments choose to compete with private internet service providers, there needs to be a level playing field.”

Wilson apologized for disconnecting its neighbor, in a Sept. 15 statement: “Before adopting the motion to discontinue service, Council Members expressed their regret that state law prevents Greenlight from serving our neighbors in Pinetops.”