One of President Biden’s top economic objectives is “lowering prices” for high-speed internet. Central to the Biden Administration’s plan to accomplish this goal is the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). ACP is based on a temporary program initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide a subsidy for eligible low-income households. The subsidy is paid directly to participating broadband service providers. Contrary to the President’s intentions,  ACP enrollment is associated with higher monthly charges for fixed broadband internet. Furthermore, the increase in prices is higher for lower-speed plans, suggesting that broadband service providers are marketing these plans to low-income households and capturing a larger portion of the subsidy. Congress should allow the ACP program to sunset when its existing appropriation runs out within the next few months.  

My answer to “who should build broadband networks” has always started with what should be obvious: Usually, the deployer with the lowest cost of capital. But technology and the $42.25 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program and other funding mechanisms have warped the equation. What are your community’s options? What are the deployer options? What are the traps? I’ve been talking to many executives, mainly from smaller communities and telephone companies, wondering if they should take the plunge. All want to do right by their customers but most also fear overbuilding by competitors using BEAD money or other funds. Ultimately, there are arguments for and against the large national carriers and the small local deployers. Communities need to be careful and consider the details.

[Steven Ross is Editor at Broadband Communities.]

The Colorado Office of the Future of Work's Digital Equity Team released the Colorado Digital Access Plan for public comment. The plan includes a vision, mission and values that honor Coloradans and their unique needs and assets. People are at the center of Colorado’s digital inclusion work and in every section of the plan. With this in mind, feedback from the public can be submitted until January 19, 2024. The Digital Equity Team identified six objectives to increase digital equity for all Coloradan communities:

1. Locally led digital inclusion programs: Colorado communities are empowered to implement digital inclusion programs and initiatives prioritizing their community’s needs.
2. Availability and affordability of internet subscriptions: All Coloradans can access affordable broadband service at home.
3. Accessibility and inclusivity of public resources: All Coloradans can access needed online resources.
4. Digital literacy: All Coloradans have the skills and confidence to navigate digital tools and systems and the support to expand their skills.
5. Online privacy and cybersecurity: All Coloradans can protect their online information and understand how to prevent security breaches.
6. Availability and affordability of devices: All Coloradans can access and afford web-enabled devices to accomplish what they need to do online.

The first customers in Spring Garden Township (PA) a rural community in York County, are now enjoying access to 100 percent fiber-optic broadband thanks to efforts from Glo Fiber and Shentel. As construction on the network continues, Glo Fiber said residents and businesses will receive advanced notice via mail of their pending internet access options, according to a recent announcement from the company. The fiber-to-the-home network in Spring Garden Township, now available in select neighborhoods, is enabled by Shentel’s 9,300-mile regional fiber network, according to Glo Fiber. Shentel, which is also known as the Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, provides broadband services through fiber-optic and cable networks to customers in the Mid-Atlantic states, according to a summary published by the company. 

As traditional local media decline, how might state and local governments provide support for local information infrastructure? We offer a proposal for states (or communities) to tax digital entertainment and then leverage existing community media centers (CMCs) to facilitate the distribution of the proceeds to local media outlets. Local news and information are vitally important to the civic and democratic health of communities, but their commercial prospects in the United States continue to worsen as digital media displace traditional local media outlets in people’s daily routines. Despite some bipartisan enthusiasm, recent proposals for public funding of local news media face serious political and practical obstacles. Rather than a federal intervention, we call for states and/or cities to levy their own taxes upon digital entertainment goods (like songs purchased from iTunes) and services (like Netflix and Spotify), and then use a portion of the proceeds to support local media, particularly preexisting community media center (CMC) infrastructure.