California’s government broadband gamble will cost taxpayers

Golden State Fiber is the latest example of California governments gambling with taxpayer money: forty counties, $111 million in bond financing, and a government-run broadband network. History suggests this bet will end the same way most do—over budget, underperforming, and on the public’s dime.

The Golden State Connect Authority (GSCA) intends to deploy open-access fiber throughout rural areas of the state, north of Sacramento and through the Eastern Sierra Nevada down to the southeastern border near Mexico.