Steve Mensing, Editor/Pacific Research Institute/New York School of Law’s Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute
♦ Here are two excellent studies on Municipal Broadband in the United States. Back in 2007, prior to my arrival in Salisbury, I read a copy of the conservative flavored “Wi-Fi Waste: The Disaster of Municipal Communications Networks”. This very excellent research paper was put out by the Pacific Research Institute and was helpful in making sense of Philadelphia’s failed Wi-Fi Network when the city partnered with EarthLink. Later, when Fibrant showed up in Salisbury and started careening down hill within its first year, I could see many of the same patterns clearly outlined in the 90 page “Wi-Fi Waste”.
Last summer a very-even handed 183 page research paper was put together by the New York School of Law’s Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute: “Understanding the Debate Over Government-Owned Broadband Networks”. I highly recommend reading this study if you desire to know the universal challenges cities face in building municipal broadband networks and finding subscribers for them.
“Understanding the Debate Over Government-Owned Broadband Networks” PDF.:
The Pacific Research Institute’s “Wi-Fi Waste: The Disaster of Municipal Communications Networks” a 90 page PDF.:
Click to read the full text of this document
