Investment In Public Middle-Mile Infrastructure Is Imminent

Between the US Treasury clarifying that American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds are eligible to be spent on middle-mile infrastructure and the Senate infrastructure bill's proposed $1 billion grant program to support the deployment of middle-mile networks, federal assistance aiming to improve middle-mile access is imminent. Investing in public middle-mile infrastructure can be essential to create competition in broken markets. Public middle-mile infrastructure is often needed when existing fiber providers refuse to lease fiber on reasonable terms and is especially conducive to competition when it is open access and can be utilized by multiple providers to connect hard-to-reach communities. A lack of affordable access to middle-mile infrastructure is a major impediment to broadband provision by non-incumbent providers, especially in rural and Tribal regions where access to middle-mile infrastructure is extremely limited. And in areas with an ISP monopoly, the ISP tends to charge last-mile providers six times more to connect to the monopoly middle-mile route than is charged to connect to routes where competitive choices exist, according to the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society in their report "Open-Access, Middle-Mile Networks: Deployment and Competition." Despite the potential influx of funding that could be used for this much-needed infrastructure, middle-mile deployment plans have their own unique set of challenges. The best middle-mile strategies take into account a variety of associated needs, including financing for last-mile deployments and funding plans to spur last-mile connectivity.