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[Click on any link for an expansion of the point.]
Fiber is inevitable.
An Argument for fiber in Lafayette:
Lafayette will one day have a fiber optic network to the home. That is good; we will surely want one. However, any local fiber optic network will be a natural monopoly. Since there will be only one, the only real question is which of the possible alternatives Lafayette will choose. Will we have a private fiber optic network owned by either BellSouth or Cox in some indefinite future, or will we soon have a public one built by LUS? Deciding which provider we'd prefer means deciding who we want controlling our future infrastructure.
The public’s interest in this boils down to deciding who to trust to be responsive to local needs and concerns: LUS, Cox, or BellSouth.
Lafayette will get a fiber network; that much is plain. In fact, Lafayette already has fiber networks—a fiber "backbone" is a practical necessity for anyone who must move a lot of data. No one, not BellSouth, not Cox, and certainly not LUS denies the value and cost-effectiveness of fiber. They cannot—they all currently rely on fiber networks to move their own data at a reasonable cost. What Lafayette does not yet have is a system that will bring the power and economy of fiber to each and every home and business. Long-range planning of all these companies includes fiber to the premises. So the question is really not whether but when. And really, fiber has such a huge advantage over all other technologies that it is only reasonable to regard upgrades to copper or wireless technologies as filling the gap until fiber is fully deployed.
Fiber offers too many advantages to pass up—and we wouldn't want to do so.
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