How Biden’s “Internet for All” Initiative Can Actually Fulfill Its Mission

The Biden administration has launched the Internet for All initiative, which may well be the boldest digital inclusion project in history, and aspires to close an essential gap in the world’s most valuable and second most evolved digital economy. The funding for the initiative draws from an unprecedented $65 billion sum from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act earmarked for the purpose of closing the digital divide. The program, as designed, could lead to a misallocation of resources, as well as inefficiencies and gaps in coordination and implementation. Right now there are three main challenges: the funding prioritizes covering miles over covering people, it lacks a national strategy and coordination framework, and many execution roadblocks will get in the way. Fortunately, each can be overcome. My recommendations:

• Establish frameworks to facilitate the best choices between “covering miles” and “covering people.”

• Develop a national strategy for goals, performance measures, and milestones.

•  Bring key stakeholders together.

• Organize capacity-building.

[Bhaskar Chakravorti is the Dean of Global Business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and founding Executive Director of Fletcher’s Institute for Business in the Global Context.]