The petition
WHEREAS quality telecommunications services are a vital part of El Dorado County's infrastructure;
WHEREAS broadband Internet access promotes commerce and entrepreneurial activity;
WHEREAS broadband Internet access reduces vehicle trips, fuel consumption and wear and tear on county roads and highways through telecommuting, distance learning and remote medical diagnostics and care;
WHEREAS the telecommunications infrastructure in unincorporated El Dorado County is largely incapable of delivering advanced digital services including broadband Internet access and Internet protocol-based voice and video services and continues to grow increasingly technologically obsolete over time;
WHEREAS fiber optic cable provides substantially greater capacity than El Dorado County's existing decades-old telecommunications infrastructure for providing advanced digital telecommunications services;
WHEREAS the telecommunications infrastructure serving unincorporated areas of El Dorado County is largely owned by just two companies, creating an uncompetitive monopoly/duopoly that greatly reduces providers' incentive to upgrade their systems to provide advanced digital services and denies residents and businesses the ability to choose among providers;
WHEREAS several locally owned and operated wireless Internet service providers are attempting to provide high sped Internet service to portions of unincorporated El Dorado County and require substantially greater "backhaul" capacity as they add customers;
WHEREAS California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-23-06 on Nov. 26, 2006 that accorded executive priority to the promotion of widespread access to, adoption of, and new applications for broadband networks and advanced communication services;
WHEREAS Gov. Schwarzenegger's Executive Order S-23-06 declared the deployment of broadband networks and advanced communication services throughout California will enable continued improvements in healthcare, public safety, education, and the economy and formed a broadband task force to, among other things, encourage public/private partnerships to advance this deployment;
WHEREAS local government jurisdictions throughout the United States whose residents have found themselves similarly situated as those in unincorporated El Dorado County with inadequate access to advanced digital services have explored and formed public-private partnerships to construct open access fiber optic-based telecommunications infrastructures;
WHEREAS these public private partnerships benefit residents and businesses by increasing access to advanced digital telecommunications services they would otherwise lack;
WHEREAS these public private partnerships benefit local government entities by providing revenues derived from leasing public rights of way for fiber optic-based open access telecommunications infrastructure;
WHEREAS these public private partnerships benefit incumbent telecommunications providers by affording them access to fiber optic infrastructure without requiring them to invest in its installation;
THEREFORE, we the undersigned El Dorado County residents and/or business owners petition the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors to direct county staff and retain necessary outside consultants to establish a public private partnership with fiber optic telecommunications vendors to utilize county rights to way to construct open access fiber to the node/neighborhood (FTTN) infrastructure to serve the current and future telecommunications needs of residents and businesses situated within unincorporated El Dorado County.
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