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GWI's Chief Strategy Officer/VP of Legal Affairs Fletcher Kittredge has been featured recently in two articles regarding his expertise in financing public broadband networks with municipal revenue bonds. Fletcher had partaken in a speaker session Wednesday, "Picking up the Tab - Funding Beyond BEAD" at the Broadband Nation Expo in Washington DC. The Broadband Nation Expo is a three-day convention of over 1,000 industry and government leaders who gather with the aim to close the digital divide and bring internet to every home in the United States. Per the Fierce Network and Benton Institute for Broadband & Society articles, quoting Fletcher: '“No taxpayer money is involved in municipal revenue bonds, and it’s a really low-cost way for munis to fund networks,” he said. Whereas a general obligation bond is secured by and paid for by taxes, a municipal revenue bond is secured by and paid for by the revenue of the network. And while incumbents may complain and even sue towns and cities that try to fund a broadband network with taxpayer money, incumbents don’t have that argument when it comes to municipal revenue bonds...Fierce Network asked how a municipality that wants to build a fiber network can get something up and running so that it has revenue and can leverage a municipal revenue bond. “You need to build a capital stack,” Kittredge said. Usually one or more investors put in some equity at the base, and they probably also incur some debt. “As time goes on, you get cheaper forms of money with lower risk to whoever’s lending it to you,” he said. “With BEAD, the grant acts as the equity and gives the jump start that allows you to start generating revenue.” Kittredge has worked with ECFiber, a municipal broadband network across 31 rural Vermont towns. ECFiber has received total bond commitments of $63.3 million. Private companies are also tapping revenue bonds for their financing. “Lots of private ISPs have been securing their debt through revenue bonds,” said Kittredge. “If you look at all the different types of financing, bond financing – when backed by a revenue stream – is a lot cheaper than private equity or banks.”' For additional details, click the links below to read both articles, authored by Linda Hardesty. https://www.benton.org/headlines/municipal-revenue-bonds-offer-low-cost-way-fund-fiber-networks https://www.fierce-network.com/broadband/municipal-revenue-bonds-offer-low-cost-way-fund-fiber-networks #GWI #broadbandnationexpo #fiercenetwork #municipalbonds #municipalrevenuebonds (fb)