Baltimore should “think twice” before investing in a...
Baltimore should “think twice” before investing in a municipal broadband project, said Seth Cooper, Free State Foundation research fellow, in a blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/14VYleT). The city’s decision to hire a consulting firm to explore how to expand city-owned broadband…
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infrastructure is similar to “several ambitious and much-hyped attempts by local governments to insert themselves into the broadband business,” said Cooper. These projects have turned into “financial debacles” where the local government budgets are “squeezed, requiring local taxpayer-funded bailouts,” he said. “The surplus of good intentions by local governments can’t overcome the deficits saddling local taxpayers when pie-in-the-sky muni broadband projects go south.” Cooper said he recommends local governments reduce regulatory barriers to entry for competing platforms by “streamlining processes for franchising agreements, rights-of-way, and infrastructure site permits.” Instead of taxpayers, the competitors should shoulder the risk of financing advanced broadband networks, said Cooper.