A Blueprint for Broadband Affordability
Private and federal broadband investments have achieved universal broadband deployment throughout the United States. Still, barriers that prevent some households from accessing the Internet remain. This lack of broadband adoption, not lack of deployment, is the central reason for the remaining digital divide. Therefore, identifying and addressing barriers to broadband adoption should be the core of broadband policy. One major barrier to broadband adoption is whether low-income households can afford it. The Affordable Connectivity Program was a step in the right direction to effectively address the affordability problem, but it was overly broad and ran out of money and has not been replaced. Meanwhile, deployment programs continue to get billions of dollars year after year. By reversing these priorities to put more focus on affordability, rather than deployment subsidies, we can address a real remaining cause of the digital divide without new federal spending.
A Blueprint for Broadband Affordability