Does Municipal Broadband Deliver as Promised? An examination of broadband pricing and household adoption in areas served by muni networks.
Description
Broadband networks owned and/or operated by local governments ("muni networks") are increasingly seen as a key tool to close the digital divide in Internet availability and adoption. There is however only anecdotal evidence about whether muni networks deliver on the promise of more affordable broadband in communities of little interest to traditional ISPs - typically disadvantaged communities. Taking advantage of the greater level of resolution in the new FCC broadband availability maps, this project will examine broadband pricing and adoption at the address level in areas served by muni networks, using a matched sample of comparable areas as a reference point. The goal of the project is to empirically assert whether muni networks are delivering on the promise of more affordable services, and whether this results in more household adoption than expected. The project is a component of an ongoing collaboration with digital equity advocacy organizations.
Students
Advisors
What students will learn
Students will have the opportunity to apply data scraping, organization and analysis skills in the context of policy analysis