Client News
NFIB: Government Intervention Hinders Floridians Access to Broadband
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
NFIB/Florida participates in The Florida Coalition for the New Economy, a group which encourages universal broadband access via responsible and fiscally-sound policies, and limiting wasteful spending on duplicative government-owned broadband networks. For Florida communities interested in increasing their broadband access, government-owned networks can seem like a worthwhile investment, but recent research proves that these investments are too risky and can work against local governments hoping to provide service.
Published in Wired magazine this past month, “Don’t Blame Big Cable. It’s Local Governments That Choke Broadband Competition” outlines how government intervention and regulation only hinders our goal of ensuring that all Floridians have broadband internet access. By blocking open access to publicly owned rights-of-way, local governments and public utilities continue to limit the reach of internet access and slow the closure of the digital divide in Florida.
The article urges local governments to provide open access to publicly owned rights-of-way which will encourage competition and innovation for broadband providers and end their reliance on taxpayer money to fund failing municipal networks.
See more here: http://bit.ly/15DpJ0p