NYC kills ‘Internet Master Plan’ for universal, public web access

Two and a half years after it was announced that New York City would spend $157 million to build municipal broadband infrastructure in poor neighborhoods, city officials have quietly canceled the plan. The now-nixed broadband expansion was the second phase of the 2020 Internet Master Plan, a massive endeavor launched during the de Blasio administration that aimed to connect 1.2 million New Yorkers to free or low-cost, high-speed internet. The de Blasio administration announced it had chosen a dozen businesses — including a handful owned or led by women or people of color — to spearhead the effort. The project had been on hold in 2022, after Mayor Eric Adams (D) assumed office. The cancellation has not been publicly announced, but city officials said those businesses were informed sometime in November.