Broadband Policy Guidebook, 2022 Edition

Several core recommendations emerge from this history of broadband policymaking:

• Rely on evidence from a long history of telecommunications policies and regulations, admitting what we know and what we do not yet know about the effects and effectiveness of subsidies.
• Acknowledge trade-offs. Some goals may be inconsistent with others.
• Create a coherent weighting system to compare proposals. Ideally, weights are based on how much consumers value various aspects of broadband.
• Rely on state procurement expertise. Like other state procurements, use competitive bidding for broadband services in order to require suppliers to compete against each other for contracts.
• Build evaluation into any program. The key to program evaluation is transparency, such as making all proposals public whether they are funded or not.
• Work together. Avoid duplicative efforts across states, and seek economies of scale from joint efforts with other states, federal agencies, and the private sector.