How To Build a Connected Future: Prioritizing Accuracy, Affordability, and Workforce Development

A common restaurant principle—“Accuracy over speed”—should guide our country’s broadband funding initiatives, particularly the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, both now and in the future. Recently, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing titled, “From Introduction to Implementation: A BEAD Program Progress Report,” and while some lines of questioning seemed to grasp at straws, there were important points that should be revisited in future hearings. Policymakers must keep three key considerations in mind in the months ahead: 1) the precision at which broadband is deployed will determine the long-term success of this massive investment, 2) broadband access without affordability is not real access, and 3) if we invest in workforce development, we can drive technological and economic growth.