February 2019

As a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, Geoffrey Starks said he hopes to make a leading priority of closing that digital divide — that is, the gulf between those with internet access and those without. It's one item on a consumer welfare-centered policy wishlist he said he hopes to push, alongside holding wrongdoers like illegal robocallers accountable and expanding the use of telehealth services. “I’m going to be focused on real solutions,” Commissioner Starks said. “I think everyday Americans expect that as well.

High-speed internet is not really available where the government says it is. And that misinformation means that a lot of Americans, especially those in poor and rural areas, can’t get access to broadband — a service that is becoming more and more integral to daily life in the US. “Currently in the US, the focus is upon physical infrastructure, not upon people choosing to subscribe or being able to subscribe,” said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a nonprofit advocating for national broadband access.

In 1996, Congress required incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to unbundle and resell portions of their networks to upstart companies at discounted and government-set rates. These network-sharing rules applied exclusively to ILECs in an era before there was substantial competition from facilities-based rivals. Twenty-three years later that expected competition is here. (ILEC’s share of residential local voice markets fell from nearly 100 percent to only 11 percent of US households by the end of 2018.) Yet, these old-school regulations remain in place.