As America approaches ‘internet for all,’ deep caution for ‘middle mile’ detour
In 2021, Congress and the administration agreed upon a bipartisan approach to bridging differences in digital investment and delivery. But now, even before a single dollar of the bill’s rural broadband deployment funding has gone out the door, governors in both red and blue states are rushing to pour tax dollars into an entirely different strategy they hope will solve the same problem, and a new Senate bill proposes to potentially spend billions more replicating these state initiatives nationwide. Even for Washington, DC, this bipartisan rush to ramp funding for “middle mile” networks is a