Thanks to private providers, the digital divide is closing

When Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in late 2021, inflation was still “transitory,” interest rates were near zero, and tens of millions of Americans lacked access to high-speed internet. Lawmakers warned that only a massive federal investment could close the digital divide. That investment came in the form of the $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program — the largest U.S. broadband initiative thus far. But something unexpected happened. While the program became mired in bureaucracy — subject to lengthy administrative processes and shifting eligibility rules — the private sector got to work. According to research conducted by our team at New York Law School, broadband providers have dramatically expanded high-speed access in the past few years, reaching millions of new homes and reducing the number of households without an available broadband connection by 65 percent. And they’ve done it without a single BEAD-funded project coming online. That’s a remarkable shift, and it raises a timely question: Do we still need BEAD? The short answer is yes, but not in the way many in the Biden administration originally envisioned. What was pitched as a rescue package for rural and underserved communities is now a supplement to a market that’s largely doing its job. Rather than pretend otherwise, state and federal officials should treat BEAD for what it has become: a mechanism to plug the few remaining holes in the broadband map, not reshape the market.

[Michael Santorelli is the director of the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School.]