Broadband key to economic development

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- More than 80 U.S. towns operate municipally-owned high-speed Internet services, and 102 offer cable TV, the American Public Power Association said.

However, several phone companies have pushed for outright bans on such municipal systems in Missouri and Texas and limitations in other states, reported the Boston Globe Sunday.

Draft federal telecom legislation released last week protected the towns' ability to offer their own broadband and cable TV services.

"Community leaders have realized that high-speed broadband service is the new engine of economic development," said Joe Nipper, vice president of American Public Power Association. "It's just something that you have to have."