Op-Ed: Subsidizing the rich in Cape Cod’s broadband push

One of the biggest government broadband consultants is pushing for more fiber broadband infrastructure in Cape Cod, one of the richest communities in Massachusetts.

CTC Technologies and Energy and Rural Innovations Solutions, Inc. worked with the Cape Cod Commission to release the Regional Broadband Needs Assessment and Summary in September. The assessment says that a lack of competition in Barnstable County has led to the highest prices in Massachusetts for local broadband subscribers, with more than half of Cape Cod residents paying more than $100 per month for internet service.

The Regional Broadband Needs Assessment outlines 14 recommendations that address opportunities identified across three separate categories: fiber and fixed broadband infrastructure, mobile network enhancements, and advancing digital equity on Cape Cod.

“This is an opportune time to plan for the region’s future broadband needs,” says Cape Cod Commission Executive Director Kristy Senatori. “With current funding opportunities, technological advancements, and support at the national, state, and local levels for broadband and digital equity, the region is in a good position to address regional connectivity challenges and digital inequities.”

The assessment doesn’t specifically call for the creation of government-owned networks (GONs). However, Massachusetts has a record as a very GON-friendly state, as it is presently home to at least 35 of them, according to this map from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which pushes for the creation of GONs.

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has reported on the dangers of GONs to taxpayers and electric ratepayers through such reports as “GON with the Wind: The Failed Promise of Government Owned Networks.” GONs frequently fail to achieve their coverage goals and taxpayers of the municipalities where they exist often end up paying for the revenue shortfall themselves.

CTC is a major player in the broadband consulting industry, as recently highlighted in TPA’s report “Government Broadband Consultants – The Big Grift.” The Maryland-based company has worked with hundreds of government and nonprofit clients on a broad range of tasks over its more than 30 years in business. They are hardly a disinterested third party.

Recently, CTC told Los Angeles city and county officials that they should build a fiber-to-the-home network. Clearly, the second largest population center in the country does not lack for broadband providers. CTC pitches public-private partnerships that tend to operate more like GONs, with taxpayers bearing most of the risk. CTC also recommended that Huntsville, Alabama, build dark fiber that Google Fiber is using to its benefit. This amounts to a taxpayer-funded subsidy to a trillion-dollar company.

According to Broadband Now, Cape Cod and Barnstable County are served by Xfinity with download speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second with 99.2 percent coverage in the area. Several satellite providers also service the county, as well as Verizon wireless internet. Residents do not lack connectivity options.

Massachusetts will receive $147 million from the federal Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program designed to close the broadband gap by providing funding to unserved and underserved areas of the United States. Cape Cod does not qualify, as the BEAD program counts as underserved those localities that can only access download speeds of 100 megabits per second or less.

While the Cape Cod Commission may complain about the current broadband rates, its residents can certainly afford it more than most. The median U.S. income in 2022 was $37,585, while the median income for Cape Cod residents was $91,710, or about 2.5 times as much. CTC can afford to make such recommendations, knowing they stand to benefit, whereas the risk is borne by taxpayers.

Taxpayer funds allocated to close the digital divide would be better spent in communities that truly lack broadband access, rather than used to help lower the bills of the well-to-do residents of Cape Cod.