Revati Prasad

Our goal at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is universal, meaningful connectivity. Under our logo, we say that broadband builds opportunities and strengthens communities. But we haven’t been living under a rock. We know technology does not always build opportunity or strengthen communities. And right now, a real bleakness surrounds technology and what it is doing to us—or might do to us. If you work in digital inclusion, that can give you pause. What exactly are we working to include people in?

In the Beckett play Happy Days, the main character, Winnie, begins the play buried to her waist in a mound of dirt. A bell rings. She wakes up. And she announces: “Another heavenly day.” She carries on. She goes through her routines. She talks incessantly. She is adapting to her circumstances. When the second act begins, the mound has risen to her neck.

You’d be hard-pressed to find many people who don’t intuitively consider the internet essential infrastructure, and their broadband service an essential utility. The last time Congress comprehensively addressed how we should govern the communications landscape was the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Thirty years ago, we went on the internet.

Every unserved home and business deserves a broadband connection, and this notice gives states a new path to find the locations the first round of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program missed. We support the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's effort to true up the Federal Communications Commission's maps and ensure funding follows the households and small businesses still waiting for service. Congress recognized that universal connectivity requires investment in both the physical and human infrastructure of broadband.

We commend NDIA’s commitment and courage in bringing the case. This decision is a significant but incomplete victory for those of us committed to meaningful connectivity for all. Congress was right to recognize the historical disparities in access and adoption of critical connectivity tools—and to address these inequities with thoughtful planning and funding. We disagree with the court’s decision that considering the connectivity needs of racial or ethnic minorities constitutes an unconstitutional race-based classification.

One year ago, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick kicked off the Trump administration’s fundamental restructuring of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Speaking before Congress, Sec. Lutnick touted the new direction as cost-cutting and “tech-neutral” and promised to expedite the program so that all funds would be distributed by the end of 2025. Yet today, five months after Sec.

A year ago today, President Trump abruptly “canceled” the Digital Equity Act (DEA) for being a “woke handout.” The DEA, created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021, directed funding to states, territories, and community organizations to address the Digital Divide and ensure that everyone has internet-enabled devices, reliable internet service, and the skills needed to use broadband to improve their lives.

I want to close by reflecting on what we heard, because the arc of [this week] tells a story. We began with Senator Markey reminding us that universal service was never a narrow technical objective. It was, and remains, a moral and democratic claim. Access to education, economic opportunity, civic participation must be available to everyone, regardless of geography, income, age, or background. That is what we are really talking about when we talk about universal connectivity. The means of participation.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 arrived at a pivotal moment in American communications history. For decades, universal service had meant one thing: ensuring that all Americans could access basic telephone service at affordable rates through a system of implicit cross-subsidies managed largely within the monopoly structure of AT&T and its successors. But by the mid-1990s, this model faced twin pressures.

Thirty years ago, in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress reaffirmed a national commitment first articulated in 1934: communications services should be available to all Americans, without discrimination, and at just and reasonable rates. Lawmakers also recognized that universal service could no longer mean just plain old telephone service. In an emerging digital economy, the promise had to extend to what they called “advanced communications,” and we now popularly call internet access and broadband.