What We're Learning While Reading State Affordability Plans

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program—established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—gives priority to projects that will result in broadband internet access service being offered in areas where service wasn't available before. Given that federal funds will provide roughly 75 percent of the costs to deploy these networks,¹ the chances that competing networks will be built at any time in the foreseeable future are very slim. Absent any market forces to check price increases, what guarantee do taxpayers have that the networks they are funding will offer services they can afford? States, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories (known collectively in BEAD as "Eligible Entities") are in the process of winning approval of their "Initial Proposals," a prerequisite for receiving the BEAD funding. Initial Proposals describe the competitive processes the Eligible Entities propose to use to select subgrantees to construct broadband projects. Initial Proposals must describe how Eligible Entities will ensure that every resident has access to a reliable, affordable, high-speed broadband connection.