Kathryn de Wit

In late Oct 2019, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society released a report that explores how leaders at all levels of government can push toward a more connected future. One of the key findings is that state governments must play a crucial role in expanding Americans’ access to broadband services. The report, Broadband for America’s Future: A Vision for the 2020s, examines ways that policymakers at all levels of government can help expand reliable broadband access to every American by the end of the decade.

States are playing a crucial role in efforts to expand broadband to the 21 million to 163 million Americans who still lack access to this critical service, encouraging broadband investment and helping to bring more of their residents online. To close gaps in access, almost every state has established broadband task forces or offices to centralize their efforts and many have set up dedicated funds aimed at reducing the number of state residents who lack broadband access.

As high-speed, reliable internet access becomes increasingly important in modern life, state leaders are seeking ways to fund projects to expand this vital service. Although the mechanisms that states use are fairly consistent—grants and loans, among others—they have different approaches for distributing funds and encouraging investment. This brief explores the ways in which states support broadband deployment projects and what they aim to accomplish.

“Build it and they will come.” This line has become shorthand for the idea that new infrastructure, once built, attracts customers. But with broadband — the technology that brings high-speed, reliable internet into our homes, schools, farms and workplaces—the quote may have an unhappy twist: if you don’t build it, they won’t have a chance. What’s missing is the infrastructure.

Federal and state lawmakers are considering an array of measures aimed at bringing broadband access to the 24 million Americans who lack this service. During the current legislative session, lawmakers have enacted dozens of pieces of legislation to fund connectivity programs, direct more support to projects in underserved areas, streamline policy and procedures, and conduct needed research. These laws and other proposed bills reflect lawmakers’ recognition of how essential high-speed internet has become to peoples’ lives—and the economy.