On March 21st, the Maine Legislature announced the approval of $15 million in broadband Internet funding for rural and underserved areas. The intention is to expand broadband infrastructure, which will ultimately lead to economic development, and provide benefits like telemedicine to underserved communities.
But the proposal is only a mere tactic that uses the current pandemic to preempt state laws in order to provide funding to government-owned networks (GONs). In reality, they will only crowd out private options, leaving consumers with less choice.
The idea that GONs would provide the same quality of network technology as private-owned networks is based on the premise that GONs would offer lower costs as a result of economies of scale. But this premise is flawed. Research investigating the financial performance of GONs show that they don’t come cheap, nor do they free consumers from problematic consequences.
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