Infrastructure Bill Allows FCC and NTIA to Define 'Reliable' Broadband

While the Senate infrastructure bill lacks an explicit focus on affordability or competition as part of the definition of broadband availability, its language may allow for determinations of "reliable" broadband that could include more than just sufficient speeds and quality. The Biden Administration has been signaling that affordability should be part of the definition of whether broadband is actually available. Yet the definition of "unserved area" in the bill is where less than 80% of the population has no access to broadband at all or no access to "reliable" broadband, defined with the Federal Communications Commission's current definition of "high-speed" as 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload and latency "sufficient to support real-time, interactive applications." There is no mention of affordability, but there is a catch. The definition of reliable broadband service is defined as "service that meets performance criteria for service availability, adaptability to 11 changing end-user requirements, length of serviceable life, or other criteria other than upload and download speeds" as determined by the Assistant Secretary of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration in coordination with the FCC. That "or other criteria" would appear to allow the President Biden-appointed heads of the FCC and NTIA to add price and competition into the broadband availability equation, much to the displeasure of internet service providers.