The masses. You know, the ratepayers, the taxpayers, the consumers. These are the people who have paid for the PSTN. These same consumers have also paid for the future broadband networks that the ILECs have refused to build despite taking rate hikes (for years) to pay for the promised land.

So when there is talk about No Investment in Telecom, I have to laugh. The consumers have and continue to pay for the network. The investors, bond holders, and shareholders get paid their interest - their reward for the "risk" - by these same consumers.

And if the ILEC's don't want to invest in the National Broadband Plan due to Title II changes, I have some ideas: build muni networks like Greenlight in Wilson, NC or LUS in Lafayette, LA. (Occasionally they fail. See UTOPIA); build the network in a public-private partnership like Hardee County, FL; or Eminent Domain.

If I was governor of Maine, Vermont or New Hampshire, I would have my Attorney General start eminent domain proceedings against the ILEC, because they made substantial promises about the network - and filed BK instead. If we can take waterfront land for a developer, we can take the PSTN to provide broadband to the taxpayers. In my opinion anyway. This could be why I can't get that appointment to the Florida PSC or to the FCC.