Wharton School Presents Research and Policy Discussion Critical of Municipal Fiber

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: We’ll be looking for some alternative analysis of this material. Interesting to see that this is becoming such a focus of certain industry observers and interests. ||

Municipal Fiber in the U.S.: An Empirical Assessment of the Financial Performance, from Wharton’s Public Policy Initiative:

Many municipalities have already built municipal-owned fiber networks and others continue to consider building them. A stream of media reports point to Chattanooga and other cities as success stories. However, little empirical analysis of their financial performance is available. Penn Wharton PPI and the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition will release a comprehensive analysis of the financial performance of municipal-owned fiber networks and bring together experts to discuss it, with the aim of providing citizens and decision makers with a toolkit for assessing the financial viability of such networks.

University of Pennsylvania Professor Christopher Yoo will present the results of his empirical analysis of the financial performance of municipal-owned fiber networks across the United States.

The Honorable Edward G. Rendell, former Governor of Pennsylvania and Mayor of Philadelphia, will offer keynote remarks and join Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum and the former head of the Congressional Budget Office, and Frank Louthan, Managing Director – Equity Research, Raymond James, and a leading Wall Street telecommunications analyst, for a panel discussion.

[more…]

Source: Calendar: Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative / May 24, 2017