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This week, we discuss a report with zero credibility from the State Government Leadership Foundation, which was written by a well-known telco economist from the Phoenix Center. Entitled, “The Impact of Government-Owned Broadband Networks on Private Investment and Consumer Welfare,” the report [pdf] makes so many factual errors that one wonders just how much these telco think tanks really take pride in their work.
George Ford authored the report. Ten years ago, he demonstrated that municipal networks most certainly did not crowd out private investment. The biggest change since then is that his employer went from supporting competitive networks to opposing them – when BellSouth SBC bought AT&T and took its name. Prior to that acquisition, AT&T actually supported competitive carriers and was even going to be an ISP on the UTOPIA network. As goes AT&T, so goes the Phoenix Center.
For episode 200 of the Community Broadband [no-glossary]Bits[/no-glossary] podcast, we discuss this report and why it has no credibility. One of my favorite points is that Ford argues municipal networks average an incredibly high take rate, which flies in the face of all the other criticism municipal networks typically face. You just can't make this stuff up.
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Thanks to Forget the Whale for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is “I Know Where You've Been.”