How Municipal Broadband Models Generate Results

Broadband access throughout California and the country are the result of different models implemented by governing authorities. Those models sometimes differ from municipality to municipality, and they result in various avenues to internet access — either wholly funded by taxpayers and implemented by public agencies or provided entirely by private business in a competitive market, noted Blair Levin, nonresident senior fellow for the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, in a recent assessment. One such model, pioneered by the communities of the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN), leaves the task of providing broadband access to the private sector. Another in Lincoln (NE) employs dark fiber to support private sector carriers in the rapid and efficient rollout of next-generation services. And places outside of urban areas may receive broadband access from rural electric co-ops, which take full responsibility for the network and service. The United States now has 750 communities where broadband services are offered by a local municipality or electric cooperative, as stated in the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.