Dallas Morning News, May 5, 2008
By Andrew Smith

Several friends had strong reactions to my story about Oncor purchasing the networking equipment that Current Communications has been building atop Oncor's electric poles and wires around Dallas.

Brief synopsis: Current had planned to rent some of the space on its network to Oncor -- which would use it to save power and improve maintenance. The rest of the network, which will eventually cover 2 million area homes, was to be rented to consumers who wanted fast Internet.

All that changed when Oncor agreed to buy out Current for $90 million and complete network construction on its own. Oncor will still use the network to improve its operations, but the company has no plans, at present, to sell extra space for consumer Internet.

The news lead several of my friends to argue that the Texas Public Utilities Commission should step in to stop the sale.

According to this thinking -- which in one case was influenced by a Mint Julep downed before the Kentucky Derby -- the PUC already has regulatory authority over Oncor, which allows it to stop the company from doing anything that harms the public interest.

And, the argument goes, derailing plans to bring an alternative source of Internet to Dallas-area residents most definitely harms the public interest, which is why the PUC should stop it.

Most technophiles believe that fast Internet connections do more to drive economic growth and improve American life than almost any other modern development -- and most of those technophiles also believe that limited competition among the cable and telephone companies has slowed the improvement of Internet service and, thus, the growth of our economy.

Such folks pinned high hopes on BPL, which is insider-speak for Broadband over Power Lines. Some of them thought that Current's project here -- the largest BPL project underway in the U.S. -- would give the Dallas area a serious economic advantage over other regions of the country. That's why they think the PUC should intervene.

I have no idea whether the PUC has any legal right to stop the sale. I don't even pretend to know how much BPL would have done to improve Internet service around Dallas. Some experts I talked to for a story last year, predicted that BPL would spur serious competition and serious innovation. Others said that a three-provider market wouldn't be much more competitive than the two-provider market we have now.

That said, I'm curious if any of the techies who read this blog think that someone needs to take action to prevent Dallas from missing a big opportunity.

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