Colby Humphrey

In the United States, millions of Americans lack a broadband connection at home due to the high cost and unaffordability of services. In 2021, Congress allocated nearly $65 billion for broadband programs through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. A large portion of these funds were allocated for the Broadband, Equity, Access, & Deployment and Digital Equity Act programs, which allocated funds to states for deploying infrastructure, promoting broadband adoption, and developing programs to develop digital skills.

Incomplete information can make it difficult for lawmakers to understand the effects of policy and for government entities to enforce grant recipients’ program requirements. Because federal broadband data focuses on information like the number of households with subscriptions, it lacks feedback on network quality and reliability, or on how consumers experience a broadband connection.

The availability of reliable, high-speed internet throughout the United States has been a focus of policymakers for decades, with the need for an expansive broadband infrastructure listed as “the great infrastructure challenge” of the 21st century by the Federal Communication Commission. However, federal guidelines have never set a benchmark for what “reasonable prices” might mean for residents in each state, and there are no established benchmarks for determining what an affordable level of broadband service would look like throughout the country.

Since Congress enacted the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, much of the discussion among policymakers and the public regarding Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program has focused on efforts to connect low-income populations.

State and federal programs have improved the availability of high-speed internet, but cost remains the primary barrier to broadband adoption for low-income households. To address this, the federal government has created consumer subsidies, such as those included in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), to ease cost burdens.

States are implementing a variety of strategies as they allocate the initial rounds of federal Capital Projects Fund (CPF) dollars to help expand access to broadband services. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has officially released more than half of the CPF dollars, with $6 billion awarded to 40 states as of May 2023.