The Era of the Broadband Public-Private Partnership

A remarkable wave of public-private collaboration in broadband is underway—a wave that began in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and will likely reach a crest in the next few years as many tens of billions of dollars of public and private capital are invested in next-generation broadband. COVID-19 demonstrated to American policymakers the absolute need for plentiful connectivity and the crises faced by those who don’t have it—and simultaneously demonstrated to private investors the economic potential of best-in-class, future-proof broadband. Public-private collaboration creates new patterns for flow of both public and private broadband dollars. The wave of collaboration is shifting the traditional dynamic of where public and private capital flow—and attracting private capital to communities that had not previously been of interest to private investors. The potential for public-private collaboration attracts private investment to areas where return is low or nonexistent but can be improved through collaboration with the local community. And the potential for collaboration unlocks local public investment in already-served communities where policymakers want better broadband but prefer to do so in partnership with the private sector.

[Joanne Hovis is president of CTC Technology & Energy, where she heads the firm’s work in public broadband strategy, network business planning, market analysis, and policy. She is also on the boards of Consumer Reports, the Fiber Broadband Association, and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. Ryland Sherman, a broadband economics and policy researcher at CTC Technology & Energy, focuses on federal and state broadband strategy and policy frameworks; mapping and funding programs; and digital equity initiatives. Prior to joining CTC, he provided significant research support for the development of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s comprehensive broadband agenda, Broadband for America Now. Marc Schulhof is a principal analyst and director of editorial services at CTC Technology & Energy, where he collaborates on the development of broadband strategy, market analysis, partnership approaches, grant funding options, and network business models for local and state government clients. This report was commissioned by the Communications Workers of America, prepared by CTC Technology & Energy in the summer and fall of 2021, and published by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society in November 2021.]