ILSR Wants Broadband Law to Fix Access, Affordability, Adoption
Federal and state broadband legislation will be “effective” only if it simultaneously addresses “access, affordability and adoption” barriers, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative reported. Federal and state governments “should actively work to promote investment in areas…
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that need it by allocating funds to build reliable broadband infrastructure, even if an existing provider may claim to serve the area,” the paper said. “Governments must take care when they intervene in markets -- but there is no real functioning market for most in broadband Internet access. ... The first step is recognizing that the standard for government intervention has to be based on enterprise and residential needs, not solely on whether the FCC has blindly announced an area is served because a company claimed it was.” Also Wednesday, President Joe Biden promoted the bipartisan infrastructure framework he endorsed last month (see 2106240070). “We’re not going to have 40 weeks of ‘This is infrastructure,’” he said during a speech in Crystal Lake, Illinois, alluding to failed infrastructure legislative efforts during Donald Trump’s administration. The deal got support from the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and some other Republicans have misgivings.