How the Infrastructure Bill Can Make Broadband Accessible to More Americans

President Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure bill promises the largest public investment in telecommunications in the country’s history. Of the $65 billion allocated for high-speed internet—broadband—$42.45 billion is earmarked specifically for deployment projects through state grants. All hopes for broadband connectivity now turn to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which has 180 days to write the rules governing the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. Then, states will administer the grants. These decisions will define the futures of un- and under-connected communities throughout the country, and especially those in rural, remote, and tribal areas, which lack basic broadband infrastructure. For this aspect of the digital divide to be addressed, and for a major driver of America’s regional inequality to be alleviated, it is crucial that the NTIA’s decisions prioritize local providers. We must recover the emphasis on local broadband of the infrastructure bill, even though it was eliminated from the text. The NTIA and state broadband offices will have a chance to do that. It is the best way to make sure that the country—the whole country—can be connected.

[Christopher Ali is an associate professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and a nationally acknowledged expert in broadband policy.]