A new legislative proposal pledges to invest hugely in rural broadband – a long-standing issue that America needs to address
The Biden administration is going big on broadband: As the Democrat Chairwoman of the FCC adopts the support scheme to allocate the $3.2bn Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund for low-income families, Congress prepares a much larger investment plan. The Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act promises a whopping $94bn to be invested in infrastructure, affordability, and adoption – thereby looking at both demand and supply sides. The bill was introduced by House Majority Whip James Clyburn and by Senator Amy Klobuchar – the same Klobuchar who is taking the lead in tightening the antitrust grip on Big Tech.
Huge investment in infrastructure to address the digital divide: The bulk of the $94bn is to be spent on infrastructure development. The bill would allocate $80bn to deploy high-speed broadband nationwide, and $5bn over five years to a loan programme for low-interest financing of broadband deployment. The US has a significant rural broadband problem to solve. The scale of the gap in broadband coverage between rural and urban areas is not even fully clear, due to the inaccuracy of broadband mapping that the FCC is only now beginning to address.
Significant steps to improve affordability: It is proposed to require ISPs to offer an affordable plan on any newly-built infrastructure funded by the legislation, and to make the FCC shine a light on broadband prices, by collecting and publishing data to that effect. Crucially, the bill adds $6bn to the Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund, making it almost three times as large as it is now, perhaps in the realisation that it needs to serve millions of Americans for at least a year from now. Finally, $1bn would be allocated to grant programs for broadband adoption and digital inclusion, and $2bn to facilitate remote learning. The bill has been welcomed by several industry associations, representing broadband providers, consumers, and advocates for rural broadband. Perhaps not a surprise, when so much money is about to be made available.
