Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Created by Congress in 2020 and renewed in 2021, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is helping 23.3 million households afford internet access. But funding for ACP—the largest, most successful internet affordability program in US history—is set to expire on May 30, 2024. This week, President Joe Biden proposed short- and long-term funding solutions in his budget. And a House bill to provide funding through the end of 2024 had 180 cosponsors in the House of Representatives.

There’s a lot of talk about how the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) might make a mess of things with the Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) program. That’s because if a location is covered by an RDOF award, then it’s ineligible for a BEAD grant. Unfortunately, many RDOF awardees have officially defaulted on their obligations to build fiber, or they just haven’t made any progress in deploying the fiber.

On March 14, the Federal Communications Commission adopted its annual assessment of whether broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion.

Sens Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) led a group of 19 senators in introducing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval to nullify the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) so-called “Digital Discrimination” order.

Even though there are enough Republicans in Congress to pass an extension of the soon-expiring Affordable Connectivity Program, industry observers are pessimistic about its passage. Because House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is not supportive, said Blair Levin, the measure is unlikely to get a vote before the House of Representatives. Paul Gallant, a technology policy analyst for investment bank TD Cowen, agreed. “Congress is probably going to do nothing,” said Levin. "If it were to hit the floor, it would pass, and I don’t think Speaker Johnson is going to let it go to the floor.

On Day 2 of Connected America, a surprise guest took to the stage to issue a rallying cry for affordable connectivity across the USA. Austin Bonner, Deputy US CTO from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, warned that 23 million people stood to lose affordable connectivity if the Affordable Connectivity Program’s (ACP) funding is not renewed and urged a divided Congress to make additional funding a priority. Despite only around half of eligible households taking advantage of the program, funding is running out.

In its 2024 Broadband Deployment Report, the Federal Communications Commission raised its fixed speed benchmark for broadband to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 20 Mbps upload. The FCC last updated these benchmark speeds in 2015 when it set the speeds at 25/3 Mbps. There is an obvious, short answer to how the FCC reached its 100/20 determination: Congress.

I believe we can’t ignore the history of our industry if we want to avoid the worst of it from happening again. There are a variety of factors that led to the rural mess that created the need for BEAD and other broadband grant programs. I think the downward trajectory started with the divestiture of AT&T into AT&T as a long-distance company and large regional telephone companies. The newly-formed company lobbied hard to be able to make profits over and above the low, but steady profits that could be earned by a regulated utility.

Chris Scharrer, founder and CEO of DCS Technology Design, claims that Mercury Broadband has overstated its ability to provide fixed wireless access (FWA) in 12 Michigan counties on the FCC’s broadband map. And he says this is deterring other providers from competing for Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) grants. Scharrer has mapping data that shows Mercury has claimed it provides practically ubiquitous coverage across 12 counties in Southern Michigan.

There is a tendency to think of high-cost areas—places where it’s expensive to build fiber—as only being in remote places with tough terrain. We’re going to see a lot of other cases of high cost locations that I think are going to surprise State Broadband Grant offices. There are many reasons that drive up the cost of building a landline network. Some places are high-cost by definition. I know of a small town in Arizona that is fifty miles away from the nearest other people.