Universal Broadband Summit Report

On May 21, 2026, the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy convened the Universal Broadband Summit, bringing together state broadband officials, industry associations, academics, local government organizations, union representatives, and civil society. Across the board, Summit participants agreed that online connectivity is necessary for full participation in modern society, and that its benefits extend beyond individual households to a more engaged electorate, a more educated public, and a more productive economy. Together, participants assessed the nation’s progress toward universal broadband, examined the challenges that remain, and identified practical, measurable tools to address them. The Summit was deliberately future-focused. Rather than relitigating how the country got here, participants took today’s legal and programmatic landscape as our starting point and asked a more practical set of questions: Where do the gaps persist? Why have they proven so durable? What can states and stakeholders do about them now? Throughout, the emphasis remained on replicable models and frameworks that can be evaluated against objective outcomes, so that progress can be demonstrated rather than merely asserted.