CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Wading into a states’ rights dispute over Internet access, President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for the repeal of laws that prevent local communities from creating their own broadband networks.
Obama, for the second time in three months, cast himself as an antagonist to large cable and telephone companies that provide the bulk of the nation’s Internet service.
Obama said faster speeds would create jobs and allow local businesses to compete in the global economy. “Today high-speed broadband is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” Obama said from a storage area at Cedar Falls Utilities.
Obama is encouraging the Federal Communications Commission to pre-empt state laws that stifle competition and said his administration will work to cut red tape.
“In too many places across America, some big companies are doing everything they can to keep out competitors,” Obama said in Cedar Falls, which he credited with having one of the fastest networks in the world after fiber-optic upgrades throughout the city. “Today, I’m saying we’re going to change that. Enough’s enough.”
