Deploying municipally-run broadband Internet to deliver high-speed access is an increasingly popular idea among local communities. These public networks often operate alongside private incumbent networks and may have substantial effects on the competitive landscape. This research design exploits variation in cities that have a municipal electric utility (MEU), which reduces barriers to entry for municipal providers, and state-level regulation, which restricts public entry into broadband markets. Using these market differences, I investigate whether incumbents offer higher speeds to deter public entry or underinvest in speed due to crowding out. Estimates indicate that the presence of an MEU is associated with lower maximum upload and download speeds offered by private cable and DSL providers. In states where municipal entry is made more difficult by regulation, these effects disappear. Therefore, restrictive regulation of municipal broadband has a non-trivial effect on competition. Negative effects are reduced in communities with lower or less dense populations.

在地方社区中，部署由市政运营的宽带互联网以提供高速访问是一种越来越流行的想法。这些公共网络通常与私有网络并排运行，并且可能对竞争格局产生重大影响。这项研究设计利用了具有市政电力公司（MEU）的城市的变化，这减少了市政服务提供商的进入壁垒，而州一级的法规则限制了公众进入宽带市场。利用这些市场差异，我调查了现有企业是否提供了更高的速度来阻止公众进入，或者由于挤占而对速度进行了不足的投资。估计表明，MEU的存在与专用电缆和DSL提供商提供的较低的最大上载和下载速度有关。在通过法规使市政准入更加困难的州，这些影响消失了。因此，对城市宽带的限制性监管对竞争没有重要的影响。在人口密度较低或较低的社区中，负面影响有所减少。