[ NNSquad ] Baltimore Sun: "The false promise of municipal broadband"

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Baltimore Sun: "The false promise of municipal broadband"

http://j.mp/1dcVNkE  (Baltimore Sun)

    "For many local governments, the promise is seductive. A cottage
     industry of consultants and network builders - who stand to profit
     handsomely - sell the idea to misty-eyed government officials that
     building a municipal broadband network will spawn a local Silicon
     Valley microcosm that will be a monument to their incumbency. But what
     they don't see is that the economics of the grand venture doom it to
     likely failure.  For the most part, municipally-built broadband
     networks have the economic chips stacked against them and, where
     tried, have saddled local taxpayers with a mountain of debt and
     half-built networks that are then sold at fire-sale prices to vulture
     investors. Taxpayers in Provo, Utah, for instance, spent $40 million
     to build a relatively small and modest network only to sell it for $1
     a few years later because they underestimated the massive costs of
     operating, upgrading and maintaining it."

 - - -

The fact that a broadly successful business model for municipal broadband
has been elusive doesn't mean that it does not exist.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren 
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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