Re: [lime-users] Community fiber optic networks

In Ecuador we're starting to convene a coalition of communities and organizations interested in creating community network or already doing so, and we're also talking with the state about how to makes regulations and laws more supportive of community networks. A friend who went to the Latin American Community Networks Summit in September told me, "I felt deja vu, that I was in 2008, ten years ago, having the same conversations about community FM radio stations." So I asked, How can we think ten years ahead, and include our vision of the future in the changes we make today to laws and regulations and our own internal organization methods and technical planning? In Ecuador there has been a lot of fiber optic cable installed in the last ten years, and we missed out on the opportunity described in the 2018 GISWatch in B4RN and Guifi.net that obliged private companies laying fiber across public land to designate fibers for open access networks. Maybe we still can benefit from that, and I also want to look for other techniques and ideas. What will we want in community networks in ten years? What can we do today to move in that direction, or open those doors? I think that for Ecuador, where we're just beginning the community network movement, we could benefit a lot by including fiber optic in our networks and plans now, not just thinking in terms of WiFi. So I'm curious about the LibreFibre process that NV mentioned in another email, and any other relevant experiences. Patricio