One big change in the switch to an all IP-based telecommunications system is that businesses may see lower taxes. Franchise fees, carrier line assessments, subscriber line charges, and other state and local telecom taxes often add up to nearly 50% of the cost of a business telephone line. Most or all of those charges disappear when a business switches to VoIP. Local and state governments may not like that, but over-taxing businesses just makes local businesses less competitive in a world economy (it is not accident that Asia is roaring ahead economically--business taxes in high growth Asian countries are usually much lower than in the U.S.).
High business taxes on essentials like phone service simply leave businesses with less money for new jobs and business expansion. Government can't have it both ways: high taxes on businesses and good economic growth.
But community broadband does not mean local governments have to give up revenue from telecom. Just the opposite is true. By designing a fairly structured open service provider network, more telecom users pay for the cost of right of way and community infrastructure, and the cost of providing the network (and some fair return to a government's general fund) is more evenly applied across the community, with a lower burden for businesses. As a bonus, the open competition of an OSPN community system tends to lower telecom costs for business.
With an open service provider network, everyone wins. Businesses get more and better telecom services at lower costs while paying lower taxes, citizens and local government pays less for telecom, and local government actually gets more revenue than it would with the crazy patchwork set of taxes and franchise fees in use now.
Sound interesting? Call us to talk about doing a financial engineering study of how your local government would benefit financially from an OSPN community broadband system.