By restoring broadband as subject to the Commission's authority under Title II of the Communications Act, the FCC will assure that a handful of powerful telecommunications companies will not favor themselves and their business partners over consumers, non-profits and small businesses who also seek to speak and to receive information over the internet. However, this is about much more than blocking and throttling; it is also about public safety, national security and privacy. Title II protects first responders’ ability to use the internet during emergencies and gives the FCC more authority to protect the integrity of America’s telecommunications networks from cyberattacks.  Right now, the FCC can do little more than rely on ISPs’ promises to protect customers’ information; Title II rules make them enforceable. Invoking Title II authority will also bring more new competition to large ISPs.  For example, it will stop ISPs from denying access to access to essential facilities they control. Benton salutes Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s leadership moving us closer to an internet that serves all of us.

I’ve heard rumors for years that the policymakers in DC never expected the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to be permanent. The expectation of the original architects of the plan was that ISPs would bow to public pressure to fill the void when ACP ran dry. However, the giant ISPs are not likely to self-fund the discounts and smaller ISPs can’t afford to do so. I’ve seen some recent articles that argue that the Federal Communications Commission could employ the Universal Service Fund. Even if the FCC is willing to consider this, its normal processes are slow and cumbersome and it’s hard to think it could happen much before the end of 2024. But there doesn’t seem to be any talk of the FCC commissioners willing to tackle this. Even if ACP gets renewed later in 2024, it will be a mess. The process of onboarding customers to ACP is cumbersome, and it seems likely that every customer will need to start with a fresh application. A lot of customers are likely not going to jump through the hoops a second time to get the discount.

What if there was a way to encourage fiber upgrades to those communities without direct government expenditures? Internet service providers (ISPs) have often complained that cities put up barriers and add costs to fiber deployment; what if cities reduced or removed those enough to change the economics and induce new fiber builds? That is exactly what Memphis (TN) has done. Only 24% of Memphis households have access to fiber, largely from AT&T. There is little indication that AT&T will expand that, leaving 76% of the city reliant only on Comcast for wired broadband. To address that divide, the city recently passed an ordinance creating incentives for private investment in fiber, so long as the investor builds in low-income areas as well as more affluent ones. The primary incentives involve waiving future right-of-way fees and expediting city processes. Based on the proposed ordinance, the city already has one private investor willing to commit to expanding fiber access to 85% of Memphis households, including a full investment in low-income areas. The city also anticipates that the effort will lead to a range of partnership arrangements among the city, philanthropy, the business community, and the new ISP to increase adoption—and therefore revenue—in low-income areas. Not only would this be a plus for the residents and the ISP, but the city anticipates the effort will also help transform city communications, public safety communications, and public services.