Dig once: The no-brainer Internet policy the White House just endorsed

The Broadband Opportunity Council Report calls for federal agencies to develop new rules and to streamline the way they give out funding for building Internet infrastructure and online services. While these commitments promise to upgrade the country's Internet infrastructure, the biggest step promotes a policy aimed at enhancing competition among Internet providers. Known as "dig once," the idea helps lower the cost of laying down new high-speed Internet cables by making it unnecessary to tear up the streets every time a company wants to reach new homes with its underground network.

Dig-once policies recommend laying a single tube in the ground through which all Internet wires can go. Once it's there, any company that wants to add fiber can just route their cables through that existing conduit -- cutting the cost of broadband deployment by up to 90 percent, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Making it easier and less expensive to offer new Internet service could potentially result in lower Internet prices and improved speeds. "'Dig Once' policies promote broadband competition, reduce costs for broadband providers and decrease road-related costs from repeated excavation," the report reads.