Michigan Broadband Cooperative Calls Report Saying Municipal Broadband Has an Unfair Advantage ‘Laughable’

The Michigan Broadband Cooperative is hitting back at a report from the Free State Foundation that claims that local governments in Michigan frequently abuse broadband restrictions placed on them. Theodore Bolema, professor of economics at Wichita State University, wrote that the governments’ unfair treatment allowed them to take advantage of regulatory privileges. “Local governments’ purported compliance with the law was achieved by tilting the playing field to give municipal networks advantages over private market providers through subsidies, self-dealing, or privileged regulatory treatment,” he wrote.  But Ben Fineman of the Michigan Broadband Cooperative called the writing a hit piece and said that government broadband providers stepped in to fill a need not met by private industry. “What alternative is the author suggesting?” he asked. “Should Lyndon residents have continued waiting patiently for more decades until a private provider stops ‘considering’ expanding and actually does something?”