How Monopolies and Maps Are Killing ‘Internet for All’

The Biden administration’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law devotes $65 billion to a moon shot mission, involving all 50 states and U.S. territories, to bridge the digital divide once and for all. It includes funding to build new modern networks, programs to address barriers to broadband adoption, initiatives that offer digital skills training, and a mandate for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules “to prevent and eliminate digital discrimination.” Similar to when the federal government set out to bring electricity to every household in America a century ago, the Biden administration intends to do the same with broadband, labeling this historic investment the “Internet for All” initiative. But the trajectory we are on will not lead to "Internet for All", but something more like "Internet for Some." Inadequate mapping by the FCC, based on self-reported data from internet service providers, labels areas as mostly served when, in reality, they are “served” by a monopoly provider that offers a patchwork of unreliable, high-cost service. These maps were used to determine how much federal broadband infrastructure money will be allocated to each state, and they will guide states in determining where to target the investments. #OaklandUndivided Director Patrick Messac says that the broadband maps used to plan public investment “systematically benefit wealthy communities at the expense of underserved neighborhoods.” President Biden’s initial vision of beefing up America’s internet infrastructure, while prioritizing ways to bring in more competition and thereby lower the cost of internet service for subscribers everywhere, has become a historical footnote. 

[Sean Gonsalves is the associate director for communications and senior reporter at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative.]