Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

Residential fixed broadband internet access in the United States (US) has long been distributed inequitably, drawing significant attention from researchers and policymakers. This paper evaluates the efficacy of the Connect America Fund (CAF), a key policy intervention aimed at addressing disparities in US internet access. CAF subsidizes the creation of new regulated broadband monopolies in underserved areas, aiming to provide comparable internet access, in terms of price and speed, to that available in urban regions.

In 2019, the Vermont Department of Public Service found that nearly a quarter of Vermont addresses lacked service that met the then federal benchmarks for broadband speeds (25/3 megabits per second, or Mbps). The COVID-19 pandemic only underscored the urgent need in a state that has consistently ranked near the bottom of connectivity comparisons over the past decade. Vermonters saw a lack of interest from private providers to invest in the sparsely populated rural state and recognized that communities needed to address the problem themselves.

The overarching goal of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is to deploy broadband networks that reach every American and provide access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet. Congress decided to allocate BEAD funds to states and territories since they are best situated to determine the needs of their communities, but it did not change any existing federal authority to oversee broadband or pricing.

Access to affordable, reliable broadband may have once been viewed as a luxury, but there is no question that it has now become an integral part of our daily lives. Similar to how we view electricity and other utilities, internet access is essential in the 21st-century—critical for everything from remote work and job searching, to education and socializing.

In the world of rural broadband, all eyes are on the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program as individual states continue to assemble their plans. NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association CEO Shirley Bloomfield believes that BEAD has interesting potential for her members, while acknowledging that there are some wrinkles that need to be ironed out.

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 330 homes and small businesses in Vance County (NC). Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Vance County is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) RDOF auction. The company’s RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to 1.3 million customer locations across 24 states in the coming years.

Surf Internet and the Newton County (IN) Economic Development Commission (EDC) are paving the way for nearly all of the county’s residents to be connected to high-speed, fiber-optic internet by the end of 2024.

The late Congressman John Lewis once prophetically noted that “access to the Internet is the civil rights issue of the 21st century.” In the long struggle to recognize Lewis’ vision and close America’s digital divide, civil rights advocates have repeatedly reminded policymakers of one central truth: progress is measured by results, not good intentions. In 2015, for example, the Federal Communications Commission modernized Lifeline—a decades-old program that had long helped low-income households obtain phone service—to apply to internet service as well. But restrictions blocked customers of

President Joe Biden regularly emphasizes how the major pieces of legislation he has signed — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — expand opportunities for Americans. This is especially true for rural Americans. Those three laws appropriated billions of dollars — about $464 billion — for many projects that could be particularly relevant to rural communities, allowing them to dream of a different economic future.

The Federal Communications Commission recently released the 4th version of the National Broadband Map, with data as of December 2023. At a high level, the trend continues of fewer and fewer unserved and underserved locations: in the previous version, 10.1 million locations were unserved or unserved. Now, with six months more data, we’re down to 8.8 million locations needing better broadband service.