Three senators reintroduced a bipartisan bill that would put $40 billion toward making broadband less expensive and more widely available. The money, comprised of flexible funding to states, tribal governments, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, is meant to bridge the digital divide.
Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Angus King, (I-ME), and Rob Portman (R-OH), support the Broadband Reform and Investment to Drive Growth in the Economy (BRIDGE) Act through Congress. The bill aims to encourage gigabit-level internet wherever possible, raise the minimum speeds for new broadband networks to at least 100/100 Megabits-per-second, and lifts bans on municipal broadband networks.
“It empowers communities to deploy their own networks to promote choice and competition. And it significantly raises the standard for any new broadband networks to ensure they meet America’s needs, not only today, but for years to come,” said Bennet in a press release.
It arrives as the White House negotiates with Republicans on how much the government should spend on broadband infrastructure. President Joe Biden originally proposed $100 billion for broadband, but the White House said it would be willing to drop that figure to $65 billion to match a Republican counter-offer, Inside Towers reported.
The BRIDGE Act would be separate funding to Biden’s proposal or whatever amount is negotiated with the Republicans, but would also act as a possible replacement if negotiations fall through, according to Broadband Breakfast.
In addition to the priorities mentioned above, the BRIDGE Act would:
- Prioritize unserved, underserved, and high-cost areas with investments in “future proof” networks that will meet the long-term needs of communities while supporting efforts to promote broadband affordability, adoption, and digital inclusion.
- Encourage gigabit-level internet wherever possible while raising the minimum speeds for new broadband networks to at least 100/100 Mbps, with flexibility for areas where this is technologically or financially impracticable.
- Emphasize affordability and inclusion by requiring at least one affordable option.
- Increase choice and competition by empowering local and state decision-making, lifting bans against municipal broadband networks, and allowing more entities to compete for funding.
Industry and some former regulators, such as former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, support the measure. “The BRIDGE Act assures that Americans in rural and high-poverty areas receive the same quality broadband as their urban cousins,” said Wheeler. “By prioritizing truly high-speed networks and promoting broadband affordability, this bipartisan bill assures we won’t be revisiting America’s digital divide again in a few years.”
Shirley Bloomfield, CEO, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, said the association’s members, “have been working to ensure rural communities are not left behind in today’s digital world by delivering high-quality broadband services that enable rural communities to offer modern economic, education, and health care opportunities. NTCA looks forward to continuing to work with the bill sponsors to ensure any new programs to stimulate broadband deployment or make broadband more affordable complement and coordinate with existing deployment commitments and programs aimed at sustaining such efforts.”
Blair Levin is a nonresident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, former Chief of Staff to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, and Executive Director 2010 United States National Broadband Plan. He calls the bill “a smart and vitally needed piece of the puzzle for addressing the availability gap.” COVID, he emphasizes, “taught our country many lessons, including that the cost of our digital divides is large and growing. We can no longer afford the losses to our economy and society that leaving tens of millions of school children, workers and families off our commons of collaboration entails.”
Not everyone was totally supportive, however. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association said the bill could be improved. “To maximize government support, broadband policy should focus on areas that currently have no broadband options,” notes WISPA VP Government Affairs Christina Mason. “It should do so by inviting the largest palette of solutions to the table, too. “As the bill is written, however, the BRIDGE Act could have the unintentional effect of cutting consumers off from community-based providers and the broadband services they already receive, leaving the most vulnerable behind, and for those who remain, paying higher bills.”
Reader Interactions