1 edit | reply to vzw emp
Re: Has anyone bothered to read the bill? That's the basic flaw in the the model that assumes the municipality operates a system that will compete with private enterprise. Both parties could conceivably operate their systems below cost for different reasons. There are thousands of privately run water systems in this country and many more publicly run systems, but I'd be willing to bet that there aren't any places where you have a choice.
I don't think the model of a government run cable/internet/phone system is fatally flawed. If that is what a community wants, more power to them. They can fund construction and operation any way they want and it doesn't have to be break even. Just don't expect an overbuilder to come in and compete.
It would be interesting to run the numbers on what it would take to run the infrastructure as a government sponsored enterprise with zero content or retail face, and let whoever wanted to provide services over that network do so. The services companies would trade the capital investment in physical plant for a monthly cost based recovery charge.
But the more I think about it, even if the economics worked I'm not sure they would want to as the barriers to anyone else offering a competing service over the same network would be next to nothing. |
