What the President’s Infrastructure Plan Will Do to Expand Rural Broadband Access

[Press release] The week of Feb 12, the President released the details of his infrastructure plan which will provide Federal funding to help repair and modernize rural infrastructure, including broadband. The President’s plan dedicates $50 billion to rural infrastructure, accounting for 25 percent of all Federal spending in the plan. These funds will be awarded directly to the states, giving them the flexibility they need to address their individual rural infrastructure needs.  Under the President’s plan, states will have flexibility to spend as much as 100 percent of the Federal funding they receive on improving rural broadband access. This funding boost will build off of actions the President has already taken to provide more Americans with broadband access in rural areas, such as the Executive Order on “Streamlining and Expediting Requests to Locate Broadband Facilities in Rural America.”

Inadequate broadband access is a barrier to rural prosperity. It stunts economic growth and prevents many rural Americans from engaging in the modern economy. Further, lack of broadband access deprives many rural students of educational opportunities afforded to those living in areas with better connectivity. Expanded broadband access will offer a better quality of life and more economic opportunity for rural communities that have been left behind for too long.