Public broadband falls under the line of fire—again

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The Internet Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) claims public broadband providers get advantages that private players don’t and that they aren’t as efficient in building networks. Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), said ITIF’s paper hides under the rug that private internet service providers have received billions from federal and state sources, including the Universal Service Fund, the Affordable Connectivity Program, and soon from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Meanwhile, the advantages public networks get are “limited to a handful of state grant programs and the fact that some localities own utility poles,” she said. In Sohn’s opinion, the most “laughable” part about ITIF’s report is that it states “there is no gaping market failure in need of repair by [public broadband networks].”


Public broadband falls under the line of fire - again