Analysts Call for Public Broadband as Thousands Remain Offline in NYC
New York City’s reliance on companies like Spectrum and Verizon has not delivered affordable or universal service, analysts say.
April 17, 2026 – New York City should shift away from subsidizing private internet providers and instead build publicly owned broadband infrastructure, analysts said in a new report Wednesday.
“For decades, the city has tried to solve this problem by giving money to companies like Verizon and Spectrum, hoping they'll build in underserved neighborhoods,” wrote policy advisors Suzi Ragheb and Katherine Jin for Tech Policy Press. “It hasn't worked.”
The authors pointed to the Big Apple Connect program, a partnership with Charter Communications Spectrum and Altice (Optimum) launched in 2022, as an example.
The city pays about $24.95 per unit per month, roughly $38 million annually, to provide service to 330,000 public housing residents, the report said.
By comparison, long-term investment in broadband infrastructure could deliver lower costs over time, the authors said.
They argued private providers have limited incentive to expand service in low-income areas where returns are smaller. “When they do show up, prices stay high and service is inconsistent,” Ragheb and Jin wrote.
Instead, the authors urged the city to build and expand publicly owned broadband infrastructure, allowing multiple providers to compete over a shared network.
A similar plan was developed under former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2020.
At the heart of the NYC Internet Master Plan was a proposal to spend $157 million to create citywide fiber and wireless networks in underserved portions of the city, that would be open to all competitors.
HR&A estimated the project would expand affordable broadband access to 600,000 New Yorkers, including 200,000 residents in public housing.
A similar model, Ragheb and Jin said, would lower prices and improve service quality.
The city could leverage existing fiber assets, a portion of the state’s $664 million in federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment funding, and local authority over construction to accelerate deployment, the authors wrote.
They called on city leaders to act during ongoing budget negotiations, proposing immediate expansion of community networks alongside long-term investment in public infrastructure.
“Public broadband isn't a radical experiment — it's a proven solution,” they said.
Jin served on NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Transition Committee on Technology, giving her a direct advisory role on the city’s broadband plan. Mamdani has so far been publicly silent on broadband issues.
More than 20 percent of families in the Bronx lack internet access at home, while one-third of Black and Hispanic New Yorkers cannot get online, the analysis found.
