- Incumbents don’t like municipal networks and claim they shouldn’t use taxpayer money to compete
- But municipal revenue bonds don’t require any taxpayer investment
- And they offer a low-cost way to fund new fiber broadband networks
At this week’s Broadband Nation Expo, a panel will discuss financing fiber networks. And Fletcher Kittredge, chief strategy officer at the service provider GWI, plans to share his expertise, more specifically, on financing public networks with municipal revenue bonds.
“No taxpayer money is involved in municipal revenue bonds, and it’s a really low-cost way for munis to fund networks,” he said.
Whereas a general obligation bond is secured by and paid for by taxes, a municipal revenue bond is secured by and paid for by the revenue of the network. And while incumbents may complain and even sue towns and cities that try to fund a broadband network with taxpayer money, incumbents don’t have that argument when it comes to municipal revenue bonds.
fierce-network.com
By Linda Hardesty
Oct 9, 2024