Muni broadband ain’t a free lunch and taxpayers know it, Oregon study finds
People are economically rational about municipally owned and operated broadband systems. Emotions – hatred of incumbents or warm, fuzzy collectivist feelings – do not motivate consumers to switch ISPs or vote for tax-backed bonds to pay for a publicly provided gigabit. That’s my conclusion yet again, after reading yet another professionally executed muni broadband feasibility study, this one by Columbia Telecommunications Corporation for Multnomah County in Oregon (h/t to Fred Pilot at the U.S. Telecom Infrastructure Crisis blog).… More