America’s Broadband Moment: Making Broadband Affordable

The time has come for Congress to establish a broadband credit—call it America’s Broadband Credit (ABC)—to ensure that people who can’t afford broadband can use broadband. The debate on whether broadband is a luxury or an essential connection to society is over. Broadband is critical, as Americans have now learned as they work, study, consult doctors, socialize, shop—and really lead their lives from home. But for too many, especially the newly unemployed, the cost of broadband service is not affordable. At the end of last year, U.S. unemployment was 3.5%. But in the last six weeks, more than 30 million unemployment claims have been filed, and the current unemployment rate is likely in the range of 16%. Some predict it could go higher still. Federal dollars should be focused on funding broadband that meets today’s needs. In a household with multiple devices and users, broadband capacity can be gobbled up quickly. Videoconferencing, likely the way that many unemployed people will be interviewed for new jobs and students are learning at home, can easily require greater upstream speeds than the minimum of 25/3 Mbps that the Federal Communications Commission counts as broadband today. To help keep America connected, let’s focus on the key elements of the ABC program as a starting point.