Legal Issues in Broadband Public-Private Partnerships: Finding a Private Partner

A growing number of local governments are coming to see fiber broadband networks as essential infrastructure for the 21^st century, infrastructure that is capable of driving and supporting simultaneous progress in just about every area of significance to their communities. This includes economic development, education, health care, environmental protection, energy, transportation, government services, digital equity, and much more. While such benefits may be difficult to measure in monetary terms—as is also true of the monetary benefits of roads, sidewalks, electricity, sewers, and water—they are real nonetheless. For many communities, these benefits are likely to be the primary reasons for entering into a public-private partnership. Several major legal issues may arise in a broadband public-private partnership project, including confirmation of authority, pre-negotiation project planning and finding potential private partners, and negotiation of the agreement.

[Jim Baller is president of Baller Stokes & Lide, PC, a national law firm based in Washington, D.C. He represents clients in a broad range of communications matters nationally and in more than 35 states. Baller is president of the Coalition for Local Internet Choice, which represents a wide range of public and private interests that support the authority of local communities to make the broadband Internet choices that are essential for economic competitiveness, democratic discourse, and quality of life in the 21st century.]