Multichannel News’ cover story features The Broadband Group and our work to create and implement the Utility Lease Model for 100,000+ homes in both Huntsville, AL and Springfield, MO.

“At The Broadband Group, a Las Vegas-based consultancy that has helped several communities find partners and funding for municipal broadband (including Huntsville and Springfield, Missouri), president Thomas Reiman said public-private partnerships could potentially change the industry.

Reiman takes a cable operator’s view of municipal broadband, having owned an Atlanta MSO in the 1990s. He said that under the old structure of financing projects through bonds and or taxpayer participation, these projects often collapsed under their own weight.

Instead, municipalities, particularly those with an existing electric utility and a knowledge of managing and building infrastructure, should look toward partnering with a broadband provider.“