Why did Glasgow elect to construct a municipally-owned broadband network?
In a word the answer to that question is “competition”. The people of Glasgow feared competition in the coming unregulated environment for their municipally-owned electric utility and they desired competition in the cable television marketplace and the telephone marketplace. They also wished to establish a city-wide, high speed computer network which was not available from either the telephone company or the cable television company. By creating a constant flow of information among the utilities, businesses, schools and homes within the City of Glasgow, the Glasgow Electric Plant Board will be able to completely change the way they will be able to provide energy to the people of Glasgow and offer abundant choices to consumers in the way they purchase that electric power. That same flow of information has created competition in the cable television marketplace and telephone marketplace. It has also allowed the creation of many new ways for the citizens of Glasgow to communicate with eac
