Broadband internet has become part of America’s core infrastructure. It’s right to focus on it in the infrastructure debate, but President Biden’s most recent proposal offers a misguided solution: Giving government more control.
As I can attest from my time as mayor of Provo City, this is an ineffective way to pursue the worthy goal of expanding broadband access, which is more important than ever in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The better path is to lean on the expertise and innovation of private companies.
When I served as mayor, no challenge loomed larger than Provo’s government-owned broadband network, which I inherited upon taking office. The iProvo network was established with the promise of delivering affordable high-speed internet connections to all the city’s residents.
But the network failed to effectively reach residents across the city and created massive costs that were ultimately paid for by residents. Our local paper dubbed it a millstone around our necks. The debt we incurred to build it dictated the city’s every move.
We considered all of our options as we looked for a path forward, including letting the network go dark. My team and I ultimately decided it was in everyone’s best interest for the government to get out of the broadband business.
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After reaching out to many potential buyers, we found a private company, Google Fiber, that fit the bill. It had more expertise and resources than us to make the project work; it could use its resources to upgrade and expand affordable internet services for residents. In 2013, Provo City sold iProvo to Google Fiber for $1.
You read that right. We sold it for $1 because that’s how little the government-owned network was worth. Its technology was out of date and its infrastructure was unworkable.
We had to come to terms with the fact that we had a decade-old network and just like a computer that’s a decade old it was near worthless. Technology advances so quickly that what is cutting edge today may be obsolete in just a few months.
The whole experience taught me that government-owned broadband networks have serious flaws that prevent their success.
First, investing in broadband networks involves risk. Even well-financed and experienced private operators lose money. Taxpayers don’t sign up for such risk nor should taxpayer dollars be spent on such risky ventures.
The Biden plan would invest billions in broadband expansion while giving preferential treatment to government-owned networks.
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