Risky Business: Philadelphia's Plan for Providing Wi-Fi Service

Policy analyst Adam Thierer describes the reasons municipalities across the country, including Philadelphia, give for wanting to municipalize broadband Internet service. He notes “broadband access is not a public utility like water, sewage, or even garbage collection. Indeed, broadband is an increasingly competitive business market that is undergoing rapid technological change. These factors alone should disqualify broadband from consideration as a public utility, since public utilities are characterized by a lack of competition and limited technological change.”

Thierer warns against municipal broadband projects that crowd out the private sector, where competition and quick innovation make it more likely customers’ needs will be served. If cities consider it important to help subsidize broadband access for the poor, that goal would be better accomplished through targeted vouchers helping those constituents buy private-sector broadband, rather than municipal provision of the service.