WiNOG discussions are "germane" if they're of interest to people running wide-area broadband wireless networks interconnected with other networks.  "Network Operations" in this context means issues related to entire networks, rather than end users.

Railroads were massively subsidized by land grants.  Highways have been built by public funds.  In order to compete globally in the 21st century and attract investment capital, government is realizing that a similar attitude needs to be adopted towards Broadband.

However, incumbent monopolies and local governments disagree about how communities should achieve the goal of providing ubiquitous high-speed Internet access.  Local governments that have opted to invest in municipal broadband networks have sparked intense backlash from the telecommunications industry, with incumbent operators battling municipalities through lobbying, lawsuits, and local and national marketing campaigns to sway the court of public opinion.

Contrary to widespread opinion, the independent ISP community still exists.  Representing the vibrancy of Internet entrepreneurism and innovation, these small local business possess the capabilities to make municipal broadband successful.  Implemented on an Open Access Broadband Network, incumbent anti-muni arguments on both the competitive and competency front are refuted.

The Open Access Broadband Network overcomes the monopolistic forces of incumbent carriers by allowing a community to make network access infrastructure available to as many competing third-party service providers and content providers as possible.  The outcome is not only greater consumer choice and reduced price, but a breeding ground for competitive innovation and breakthrough telecommunications services.

With the Open Access Broadband Network, small entrepreneurial businesses will flourish, competition will increase innovation and US broadband and economic development will once again accelerate and propel itself to the forefront of the world.

In continuing the WiNOG EXCHANGE tradition, this August we will establish a forum to bring together both sides of the table, public and private, to formulate and discuss methods of working together to create "Open Access Network and to accomplish the task of "Bridging the Digital Divide."