The Public Internet Option: How Local Governments Can Provide Network
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Impact of Broadband Speed and Price on Small Businesses
The Impact of Broadband Speed and Price on Small Business by Columbia Telecommunications Corporation Kensington, MD 20895 for under contract number SBAHQ-09-C-0050 Release Date: November 2010 This contract was developed under a contract with the Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, and contains information and analysis that was reviewed by officials of the Office of Advocacy. However, the final conclusions of the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Advocacy. Contents 1. Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Purpose ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Key Observations Regarding the U.S. Internet Market ............................................................... 1 1.3. Policy Recommendations and Considerations ............................................................................. 3 2. Report Definitions and Data Gathering ................................................................................................ 5 2.1. Defining Broadband .................................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Survey Development, Distribution, and Analysis ....................................................................... 6 3. Understanding the U.S. Broadband Market Today ............................................................................. -
The Philadelphia Story Learning from a Municipal Wireless Pioneer
The Philadelphia Story Learning from a Municipal Wireless Pioneer Joshua Breitbart, Author Naveen Lakshmipathy, Appendices Sascha D. Meinrath, Editor NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION 1 The Philadelphia Story Learning from a Municipal Wireless Pioneer Joshua Breitbart, Author Naveen Lakshmipathy, Appendices Sascha D. Meinrath, Editor Washington, DC Contents Executive Summary ...........................................................................................................................................1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................................................3 Keys To Successful Municipal Wireless Network Deployment......................................................................4 Welcome To Philadelphia ............................................................................................................................................7 About This Report ..........................................................................................................................................................8 Philadelphia A Case Study..........................................................................................................9 Pilot Project.......................................................................................................................................................................9 The Executive Committee .........................................................................................................................................10 -
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Fact Checking the New Taxpayers Protection Alliance Report, GON With the Wind By Christopher Mitchell, Katie Kienbaum, Jess Del Fiacco, Ry Marcattilio-McCracken Institute for Local Self-Reliance In time, we may offer a more substantial reaction on our Correcting Community Fiber Fallacies page, which already addresses many of the claims repeated in this report. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance is offering this quick, critical reaction within hours of first seeing the Taxpayers Protection Alliance report in order to give the facts a chance — this is a biased attack against municipal networks and the competition they can provide in a market that desperately needs it. Learn More: ILSR.org MuniNetworks.org Get in Touch: @MuniNetworks @CommunityNets [email protected] The Taxpayers Protection Alliance has returned with another puzzling attempt to discredit municipal broadband networks: They have published a report, GON With the Wind, that mostly affirms that the community networks it picked to study are successful. TPA’s report offers 30 short case studies and there is no explanation of how TPA chose this odd subset of municipal networks. Yet they allege a failure of the network or failure to pay debt in only 9 of its examples. One of the claims of failure, North Carolina’s Wilson, relies solely on a false claim that was quietly retracted years ago by Christopher Yoo at the University of Pennsylvania, who admitted he did not understand the revenue bonds he was criticizing. To be clear, TPA chose 30 municipal networks to make its argument and can only accurately claim 8 out of 30 networks as failures. -
How Broadband Populists Are Pushing for Government-Run Internet One Step at a Time
How Broadband Populists Are Pushing for Government-Run Internet One Step at a Time BY ROBERT D. ATKINSON AND DOUG BRAKE | JANUARY 2017 To most observers of U.S. broadband policy, it would seem that the Heated debates about discrete issues such regular and increasingly heated debates in this area are about an evolving as net neutrality, set of discrete issues: net neutrality, broadband privacy, set-top box broadband privacy, competition, usage-based pricing, mergers, municipal broadband, and set-top box international rankings, and so on. As each issue emerges, the factions take competition are their positions—companies fighting for their firms’ advantage, “public subcomponents of a interest” groups working for more regulation, free market advocates broader strategic debate about what working for less, and some moderate academics and think tanks taking kind of broadband more nuanced and varied positions. But at a higher level, these debates are system America about more than the specific issue at hand; they are subcomponents of a should have. broader debate about the kind of broadband system America should have. One side wants to keep on the path that has brought America to where it is today: a lightly regulated industry made up of competing private companies. Another side, made up of most public interest groups and many liberal academics, rejects this, advocating instead for a heavily regulated, utility-like industry at minimum and ideally a government- owned system made up largely of municipally owned networks. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) firmly believes the former model—lightly regulated competition—is the superior one. -
AARP Net Neutrality FCC Comments July 13 2014
Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 ) In the Matter of ) ) GN Docket No. 14-28 Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet ) ) ) Comments of AARP July 15, 2014 Trevor R. Roycroft, Ph.D. David Certner Economic Consultant Legislative Counsel and Legislative Policy Director Government Affairs AARP 601 E Street, NW Washington, DC 20049 AARP Comments GN Docket No. 14-28 July 15, 2014 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents Summary and Overview of Comments ...................................................................................... iii Broadband has changed since the Cable Modem Order—telecommunications is the dominant service provided to end-users and edge providers over broadband connections .................................................................................................................................................... iv The NPRM's discrimination solution to no-blocking will harm the Internet ecosystem ... v “Minimum levels of access” require Title II classification .................................................. vi Case-by-case evaluation of “commercially unreasonable” practices based on the “totality of circumstances” will place an impossible burden on the Commission............................ vii Reclassification will support Internet innovation and broadband investment ................. vii I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. -
Municipal Broadband in Concord: an In-Depth Analysis
BHI Policy Study March 2 0 0 4 Municipal Broadband in Concord: An In-Depth Analysis David G. Tuerck, PhD John Barrett, MSc Beacon Hill Institute The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston focuses on federal, state and local economic policies as they affect citizens and businesses. The institute conducts research and educational programs to provide timely, concise and readable analyses that help voters, policymakers and opinion leaders under- stand today’s leading public policy issues. ©March 2004 by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University ISBN 1-886320-21-7 The Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research Suffolk University 8 Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108 Phone: 617-573-8750 Fax: 617-720-4272 [email protected] http://www.beaconhill.org $15.00 Table of Contents Executive Summary.....................................................................................4 I. Introduction..............................................................................................8 II. Cautionary Tales....................................................................................12 Tacoma Public Utilities Click! Network ............................................................... 12 Ashland, Oregon ...................................................................................................... 13 Lebanon, Ohio .......................................................................................................... 15 Braintree, Massachusetts ....................................................................................... -
Municipal Broadband: Challenges and Perspectives
Federal Communications Law Journal Volume 59 Issue 1 Article 4 12-2006 Municipal Broadband: Challenges and Perspectives Craig Dingwall Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo Follow this and additional works at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/fclj Part of the Administrative Law Commons, Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons, Communications Law Commons, and the Legislation Commons Recommended Citation Dingwall, Craig (2006) "Municipal Broadband: Challenges and Perspectives," Federal Communications Law Journal: Vol. 59 : Iss. 1 , Article 4. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/fclj/vol59/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Federal Communications Law Journal by an authorized editor of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Municipal Broadband: Challenges and Perspectives Craig Dingwall* I. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY ................................................ 68 II. BROADBAND DEMAND ............................................................. 69 III. POSSIBLE JUSTIFICATIONS FOR MUNICIPAL BROADBAND ............. 76 IV. SPEED, FEATURE, AND PRICE CONSIDERATIONS ....................... 77 V. MUNICIPAL BROADBAND STATUS ............................................. 81 A. MunicipalBroadband Deployment ..................................... 81 B. State and FederalLegislation ................................................. 85 C. Nixon v. -
The Law and Economics of Municipal Broadband
The Law and Economics of Municipal Broadband T. Randolph Beard, PhD* George S. Ford, PhD† Lawrence J. Spiwak, Esq.‡ Michael Stern, PhD¨ TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 3 II. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ........................................................................... 9 III. THE ECONOMICS OF THE BROADBAND BONUS ...................................... 14 A. The Externality Issue .................................................................... 15 B. Competition is Not the Solution to Externalities .......................... 16 C. Economic Development and Municipal Broadband .................... 17 D. Economic Migration Versus Growth ............................................ 18 IV. MUNICIPAL BROADBAND, COMPETITION, AND WELFARE ..................... 19 A. The Equilibrium Number of Firms ............................................... 22 B. Welfare and the Number of Competitors ...................................... 27 C. Adding Competitors to a Market Already in Equilibrium ............ 29 D. The Value of the First Firm .......................................................... 32 E. Externalities and the Equilibrium Number of Competitors .......... 32 V. SUBSIDIES, PREDATION, AND PRIVATE INVESTMENT ............................ 34 A. Municipal Broadband and the Number of Firms ......................... 35 * Senior Fellow, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies; Professor of Economics, Auburn University. † Chief Economist, -
Rationalizing the Municipal Broadband Debate
I/:A JUNLOLAWADPLC FO IFRAIO*H *OIT MICHAEL J. SANTORELLI Rationalizing the Municipal Broadband Debate Abstract: If one were to believe some of the hyperbole surrounding the many discussions on universal broadband access, one would be dismayed by how far the United States seems to have fallen behind its international counterparts in the race to build out networks. Indeed, by some accounts, the United States is on the brink of economic ruin if it continues without a coherent strategy to rectify the situation. Under these circumstances what is the United States to do? Local municipalities have sought to fill this apparent broadband void by building networks to compete, in some form or another, with incumbent broadband providers in order to speed network build-out and drive down prices. Contrary to this belief, many feel that the broadband market is healthy and robust. These competing perceptions constitute the crux of the current municipal broadband debate. This article seeks to clarify the debate by offering a valuable framework within which future disputes and misunderstandings might be avoided or current ones resolved. In order to accomplish this, the article will show that the market is in fact healthy and competition is robust. The article will then examine a number of municipal entrance strategies and derive from each a number of observations on what has and has not been successful to date. This article will conclude by enumerating a set of guiding principles for use by policymakers and regulators at all levels of government to consider before deciding whether it is prudent for a municipality to enter the broadband market. -
Municipal Broadband: Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options
POLICY BRIEF Revised - March 2008 Municipal Broadband: Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options CHRISTOPHER MITCHELL [email protected] Executive Summary The United States, creator of the Internet, increasingly lags in access to it. In the absence of a national broad- Introduction band strategy, many communities have invested in broadband infrastructure, especially wireless broad- Minnesota’s capital city, St. Paul, recently considered band, to offer broadband choices to their residents. building a wireless network in order to quickly offer all 285,000 residents an affordable broadband connection. Newspaper headlines trumpeting the death of municipal With the Republican National Convention date approach- wireless networks ignore the increasing investments by ing in 2008, the City Council created a Broadband Advi- cities in Wi-Fi systems. At the same time, the wireless sory Committee and pressed it to move quickly. focus by others diverts resources and action away from building the necessary long term foundation for high The committee refused to act hastily and studied several speed information: fiber optic networks. broadband options for the city. Over the course of the next year, the committee decided a wireless network DSL and cable networks cannot offer the speeds re- would not serve St. Paul’s long-term interests and called quired by a city wishing to compete in the digital for a fiber optic network, built in phases, that could have economy. Business, government, and citizens all need wireless as an add-on. affordable and fast access to information networks. Today’s decisions will lay the foundation of telecom- The same week the St. Paul City Council accepted the munications infrastructure for decades. -
FCC-15-25A1.Pdf
Federal Communications Commission FCC 15-25 Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) City of Wilson, North Carolina ) WC Docket No. 14-115 Petition for Preemption of North Carolina General ) Statute Sections 160A-340 et seq. ) ) The Electric Power Board of ) WC Docket No. 14-116 Chattanooga, Tennessee ) Petition for Preemption of a Portion of Tennessee ) Code Annotated Section 7-52-601 ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: February 26, 2015 Released: March 12, 2015 By the Commission: Chairman Wheeler and Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel issuing separate statements; Commissioners Pai and O’Rielly dissenting and issuing separate statements. TABLE OF CONTENTS Para. I. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................. 1 A. Executive Summary......................................................................................................................... 1 B. Background.................................................................................................................................... 17 1. The Commission’s Mandate Under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act ................. 18 2. The EPB Petition and Territorial Restriction in Section 601 .................................................. 22 3. The Wilson Petition and H.B.129 ........................................................................................... 33 II. PREEMPTION OF PROHIBITIONS ON MUNICIPAL PROVISION -
How Cable Companies Use Hidden Fees to Raise Prices and Disguise the True Cost of Service CR CABLE BILL REPORT 2019
How Cable Companies Use Hidden Fees to Raise Prices and Disguise the True Cost of Service CR CABLE BILL REPORT 2019 Jonathan Schwantes, Consumer Reports October 2019 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Consumers are clearly fed up. Nearly everyone (96%) of those who reported having encountered From cable TV to online ticket vendors, utilities, hidden or unexpected fees in an industry that we airlines or hotels, companies are piling on more asked about said fees are a real nuisance. Nowhere and more hidden fees that result in higher bills for is this more true than in the cable industry. The consumers. Overall, 85% of Americans say they CR survey found telecommunications providers have encountered an unexpected or hidden fee (which includes cable companies) are the worst in the past two years for a service they had used, offender when it comes to charging unexpected according to a recent nationally representative or hidden fees. What a cable company advertises survey of 2,057 U.S. adults, conducted by to a consumer as a monthly price for services, and Consumer Reports (CR). And nearly two-thirds say what the consumer actually ends up paying, can be they are paying more now in surprise charges than dramatically different. they did five years ago. For a typical family, these fees can potentially add up to thousands of dollars What a cable company a year in extra costs, posing a big financial strain, CR found. advertises to a consumer as a monthly price for services, and what the consumer actually ends up % paying, can be dramatically OF U.S.64 CONSUMERS different.