Reporting

Lisa Hone, a longtime Federal Communications Commission attorney with deep expertise in broadband policy, has joined the National Economic Council team to steer the Biden administration's broadband expansion efforts. Hone's primary focus is ensuring that money Congress allocated through the American Rescue Plan Act is spent appropriately. Hone, who officially started her job as senior adviser for broadband and technology policy the week of May 31, is now the White House's point person on broadband deployment efforts happening across the government.

Microsoft said that it's expanding its Airband program, which was initially designed to connect rural areas, to eight cities: Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, El Paso, Texas, and Memphis. Along with enabling inexpensive broadband, Microsoft will make devices more affordable by providing free and low-cost refurbished computers and tablets to communities of color through partners like PCs for People, Human-I-T and PlanITROI, a company whose Digital Dreams Project provides refurbished devices to K-12 students in need.

AT&T Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh highlighted the potential for the operator to boost average revenue per user (ARPU) by offering multi-gigabit capabilities on its fiber infrastructure, shedding more light on an ambitious network expansion plan. AT&T bumped up speeds on its lower broadband tiers to 300 Mbps and 500 Mbps, and currently offers a 1-gig plan as its premium service.

At a time when people can work remotely and run businesses from practically anywhere, the internet should be a boon to the rural economy. Not only could it keep Wisconsin's signature farming industry connected, it could help curb population losses in small towns, where many young people feel they must leave for opportunities elsewhere. Yet a significant portion of rural Wisconsin — if it has access to the internet at all — lacks access at broadband speeds, meaning a connection of at least 25 megabit per second downloads and 3 Mbps uploads.

In May, the government began offering Americans struggling during the pandemic a $50 discount off of their broadband bill. But some US broadband providers are already exploiting the program to drive consumers to even more expensive broadband plans. Verizon, for example, was forcing customers to sign up for more expensive plans if they wanted the benefit. Charter, which sells broadband under the Spectrum brand, has been forcing eligible customers to opt in to full-price plans at sign up.

Veterans of the nation’s decade-long efforts to extend the nation’s broadband footprint worry that President Joe Biden's new plan carries the same bias of its predecessors: Billions will be spent to extend the internet infrastructure to the farthest reaches of rural America, where few people live, and little will be devoted to connecting millions of urban families who live in areas with high-speed service that they cannot afford. About 81 percent of rural households are plugged into broadband, compared with about 86 percent in urban areas, according to Census Bureau data.

There’s a tense fight in Washington between Republicans and Democrats over President Biden’s infrastructure plan, from the amount of funding in it to the very definition of infrastructure. But on the question of addressing the internet and bridging the digital divide, there appears to be resounding agreement that broadband is very, very important and very, very bipartisan. This is a mirage.

US government data shows that home-Internet customers pay more each year and that average broadband expenditures are rising faster than inflation, but cable and telecom lobbies keep claiming that broadband prices are getting lower. The latest example came  from USTelecom—which represents AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink/Lumen, Frontier, and other DSL and fiber Internet providers. The group unveiled the latest version of its Broadband Pricing Index [BPI] that measures prices for residential Internet service.

Detroit has historically been one of the least connected cities in America, with about 40 percent of Detroit residents lacking any home internet access at all. Things are changing, though, thanks in large part to projects like the Equitable Internet Initiative (EII), a collaboration between the Detroit Community Technology Project and a network of community organizations.

A day after Vice President Harris held a discussion about broadband with members of Congress, key lawmakers came away heartened — despite worsening odds that the parties will be able to bridge their differences about the administration’s infrastructure ambitions.