North Carolina: Imposes numerous restrictions on community-owned broadband that have the practical effect of severely curtailing any such effort.
For example, as explained by the prominent telecom attorneys Jim Baller, Sean Stokes, and Casey Lide, “public entities are required to comply with unspecified legal requirements that may apply to private providers; impute phantom costs into their rates; conduct a referendum before providing service; forego popular financing mechanisms; refrain from using typical industry pricing mechanisms; and make their commercially sensitive information available to their incumbent competitors.”
No new municipal networks have been built since the law took effect, though Wilson’s Greenlight Network has still been able to thrive as one of the best examples of municipal broadband in the nation. North Carolina’s limits only apply to networks that would charge a fee for service.