Do Municipal Networks Offer More Attractive Service Offerings Than Private Sector Providers? A Review and Expansion of the Evidence

In this PERSPECTIVE, I correct the errors of the earlier efforts so that a more meaningful comparison can be made between the prices of triple-play offerings across municipal and privately-owned broadband providers. My work demonstrates that the claims made in these studies regarding municipal broadband systems offering lower prices are the direct and sole consequence of improperly comparing the prices of unlike bundles. In actuality, for very similar triple-play offerings, municipal systems typically charge consumers substantially more than their private-sector rivals. My analysis also suggests that the competitive price for a fairly standard triple-play service is about $100 in the United States, and the expansion of municipal provision of broadband service won’t alone alter that reality