American Enterprise Institute

Will Broadband Be Affordable? Highlights from an Expert Panel

On October 2, AEI hosted an expert panel to discuss how price controls might affect broadband affordability and ways to ensure broadband is affordable for all Americans. The panel featured New Street Research’s Jonathan Chaplin, Duke University’s Michelle P.

How Are States Managing the Broadband Billions? Highlights from an Expert Panel

On September 29, the American Enterprise Institute hosted an expert panel to discuss states’ plans for managing the billions of dollars allotted to broadband expansion. The panel featured Duke University’s Michelle Connolly, North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s Nate Denny, ConnectLA’s Veneeth Iyengar, and Kansas Office of Broadband Development’s Jade Piros de Carvalho. Piros de Carvalho highlighted the need for solutions to the labor shortage that the deployment process will soon be facing, as well as the need for streamlined permitting processes.

Assessing Broadband Affordability Initiatives

The basic tenet of universal internet service—that the government should assist those who cannot afford basic access to the network—has long been a cornerstone of American telecommunications policy. Unfortunately, it is far from clear whether Lifeline, the federal program tasked with getting low-income households online, actually addresses this problem. The recently enacted Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) threatens to compound Lifeline’s errors. The advent of ACP provides a unique opportunity to rethink our approach to broadband affordability initiatives.