Cable Fears Ease as Senators Aim Broadband Subsidies to Unserved

Negotiators of the Senate infrastructure bill have agreed to focus its broadband subsidies on areas lacking basic internet, easing concerns of cable providers such as Comcast and Charter Communications that they’d face widespread taxpayer-funded competition by faster services. The White House initially sought $100 billion to spread broadband to all US households, a figure that was later pared to $65 billion. Earlier proposals called for subsidies flowing to areas lacking the fastest speeds, a cohort that includes an estimated two-thirds of US households. They include many with cable service that relies on copper lines rather than faster fiber optic. The group of about a dozen senators decided that funding should go first to areas that lack service of 25 megabits per second for downloads, and 3 megabits per second for uploads; those speeds meet the current US benchmark for broadband. Under the draft Senate agreement, subsidies could go to areas where service exceeds the 25/3 benchmark after unserved areas are funded.