Writing at fayobserver.com (the online Fayetteville Observer), JLF President and CEO Kory Swanson joins the Mercatus Center’s Brent Skorup explains why the idea of more government involvement in the providing of internet serves is well-intentioned, but flawed policy.
Some people may remember the high-profile struggles of “municipal cable” in the 1990s and 2000s and “municipal WiFi” failures in Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia 10 years ago. The Charlotte Observer reported in 2015 that Mooresville and Davidson’s public cable system was still $74 million in debt after nearly a decade of operation. The latest fad pushed by “community broadband” consultants and advocates is public broadband networks built and operated by cities.
Municipal broadband in urban areas creates two harms: It diverts public funds to gold-plated services that benefit a minority of residents, and it siphons customers away from private providers, who may have to raise fees to maintain profitability.
Read the entire piece here.