Falsifying the ‘future proof fiber’ fiction

President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan prioritizes “building ‘future proof’ broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas so that we finally reach 100 percent high-speed broadband coverage.” Many considered this an imperative to spend the funds on fiber-to-the-home connections. Yet is fiber—and more precisely, fiber-optic "last mile" connections into residences—really future proof? As the amount of devices and data generated have multiplied, fixed connections to them have diminished. The future of connectivity in the last mile is increasingly wireless, and for the most part, mobile. Why be tied to a wire when not necessary, even if it is arguably even more efficient? Perhaps policymakers should exhibit some humility and acknowledge that the rhetoric about future proof fiber does not reflect the industry’s realities and current evolution.

[Bronwyn Howell is an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.]