Dark fiber bill moves ahead this week, in the Nebraska Legislature

BEATRICE – A bill on the use of so-called dark fiber has advanced in the Nebraska legislature, after negotiations were held that consolidated several amendments.

LB 61 is the priority bill of Senator Tom Brandt, of Plymouth. "This is how the process is supposed to work. There were some issues with about four different warring parties on this, and we got together in a room and everybody gave up something. The telecoms, public power, the senators...and so this is an agreement of many."

The bill seeks to allow public power districts to lease their unused dark fiber and remove hurdles to rural broadband development.  Utilities would be able to partner with internet providers to offer high speed connectivity to unserved or under-served rural areas.

Senator Christy Armendariz says she plans to offer an amendment at a later round of consideration, over concerns about cost-effective broadband development.
"A sunset to the restriction to only to be able to use these fibers for unserved and under-served areas. My intention is, these telecoms will go out and build those areas if there's an upside date on the end of that...four years out. If they have met the requirement of ninety percent of the unserved are now served...you can now use these fibers to build in more profitable areas to recoup your costs."

Armendariz said government often intervenes when the free market isn’t fixing a problem in which some areas are unserved or under-served.

LB 61 advanced to second round consideration, on a 34-2 vote.