President Joe Biden is betting big on small networks to close the digital divide

The Biden administration’s ambitious infrastructure proposal, the American Jobs Plan, includes $100 billion in broadband funding, with the goal of connecting every American to high-speed broadband by the end of the decade. But with Senate Republicans set to dramatically cut total investment in their counter-proposal, the future of the package is unclear. Making Biden’s plan work will mean wading into a mess of local rules around municipal broadband. Biden’s plan focuses on local and nonprofit telecoms, prioritizing publicly owned networks over giants like Verizon and Comcast that dominate better-served markets. The White House described the American Jobs Plan as “prioritiz[ing] support for broadband networks, owned, operated by, or affiliated with local governments, non-profits, and co-operatives” so that providers face “less pressure to turn profits.” As of January 2020, over 500 US communities are served by a publicly owned network, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. But even as these networks grow and expand across the country, 18 states restrict them in some form, whether that be banning them outright or outlawing their expansion into adjacent counties. Removing these barriers is a key part of Biden’s plan.