Be glad the FCC lost its muni broadband bulldozer

23 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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Municipal broadband dodged a bullet when a U.S. appeals court ruled that the Federal Communications Commission can’t tell states that they have to allow cities to build networks and offer service. It seemed like a good idea to many muni advocates at the time (although not me, I’ll immodestly point out) because of all the warm and fuzzy love that the Obama administration was bestowing on the concept.

Had that preemption withstood court challenges, muni broadband would be at the mercy of the current FCC majority, which includes Michael O’Rielly, who recently offered his thoughts to a group of state legislators. After warming up with some rants about socialism and the collapse of the Venezuelan economy, he riffed on muni broadband systems…

What I am unwilling to do and will never support is allowing government-sponsored networks to use their unfair advantages to offer broadband services. Doing so would be the quickest way to destroy the private broadband market and reassure creation of a market monopoly position by these networks. In addition, in instances where they have been attempted, the success rate is highly suspect. Clearly, building and operating a broadband network is the opposite of easy.

The fact that some states in our nation have enacted protections prior to allowing localities to pursue government-sponsored networks should be celebrated, not criticized or attacked. Upon close examination, the protections are, in fact, quite reasonable. They tend to include requirements that potential networks conduct a right-of-first refusal process to see if the private sector is capable and interested in offering service, perform referendums of the local people to determine whether there is a desire to put taxpayer monies at risk, limit the use of cross-subsidies and government advantages to rights-of-way, and present business plans before becoming operational. Far from being radical, these are common sense requirements.

Fortunately, the FCC’s abortive preemption of muni broadband ended up reaffirming state authority over what cities and counties do, including whether or not they can build and operate networks. The flip side of the argument – that maybe the FCC has the power to ban, rather than require, muni broadband – hasn’t been tested. So don’t rest easy. But be glad the courts didn’t agree that the FCC has unmistakably clear authority over what cities can and can’t do with broadband.