(Radio Iowa) - Governor Kim Reynolds says the state-owned fiber optic network should be sold as soon as possible.
In 1989, Governor Terry Branstad touted the Iowa Communications Network as a cyber highway for K-12 students to take classes they weren't able to get in their local district. Molly Severn, deputy chief of staff for Iowa's current governor, estimates the state could get 100 MILLION dollars from selling the fiber network now. In the 1990s, several Republican lawmakers called for selling the network, arguing the state was running a telephone company that unfairly competed with the private sector.
Governor Reynolds' bill calling for the network's speedy sale has cleared a House subcommittee.