President Biden broadband agenda takes aim at Big Telecom

The White House wants to lower broadband prices and make the industry more competitive — a sign that President Biden's approach to the telecom sector will be much tougher than his predecessors'. The White House infrastructure package included $100 billion for broadband deployment, with plans to channel funding to government-owned, non-profit or cooperative networks and a push to reduce prices. "A very positive signal that was sent — that should send chills up the spines of the incumbents — was recognizing that the market is not competitive and Americans generally are paying too much for broadband," said Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge.  "We've had a long run of the argument being that regulation is harmful to investment and innovation — and I think what this activity is saying is that argument has run its course,"  saidTom Wheeler, the former chairman of the FCC in the Obama administration. "This is a watershed where there is a recognition that investment is made based on the returns it will generate, not based on regulation."