Build Back Better Includes $1 Billion-Plus for Broadband

President Joe Biden‘s $1.7 trillion-plus Build Back Better legislative package has more than $1 billion for various better broadband building programs. According to a draft copy of the framework unveiled October 28, it includes:

• $475 million for grants (plus another $20 million in administrative expenses and another $5 million on outreach) to fund the distribution of WiFi-enabled connected devices to allow access to the broadband that is being subsidized.
• $300 million more for the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Connectivity Fund for distance learning, though not for any equipment the agency has determined is a threat to national security, including Huawei or ZTE.
• $250 million for grants to public-private partnerships for pilot projects to find long-term solutions to boosting access to affordable broadband in urban areas.
• $100 million for outreach and education “regarding the broadband and communications affordability programs of the FCC.
• $7 million to stand up a 14-member Future of Telecommunications Council to advise Congress on “the development and adoption of 6G and other advanced wireless communications technologies, including 14 ensuring equity in access to those technologies for communities of color and rural communities.”
• $5 million to create the Affordable Urban and Suburban Broadband Advisory Committee, which would advise the FCC and National Telecommunications & Information Administration on making broadband more affordable to both urban and suburban broadband subscribers.