Where Biden's FCC pick Gigi Sohn stands on broadband

With the Biden administration on the cusp of passing the infrastructure bill with $65 billion in broadband funding, here are a few things we know about where Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] stands on crucial broadband issues:

• Critical of the FCC's progress on broadband: Sohn is no stranger to the FCC. Nor is she shy about criticizing its progress on broadband and which of its investments she says haven't paid off, including round one of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction under former Chair Ajit Pai.
• Big on building back better maps: Sohn points to the well-known problem of bad mapping data at the FCC as one of the reasons for the agency's failures to bridge the digital divide, and cites state-led mapping efforts in Pennsylvania, conducted by Penn State, and in Georgia, conducted by the real estate technology company LightBox, as "the gold standard."
• Net neutrality: If confirmed, Sohn will return to an FCC that's contending with some of the same big issues from the Obama administration, including the potential restoration of net neutrality rules.
• Public networks: Sohn is a proponent of community networks of all kinds and sees them as one key to what she calls the "affordability agenda," which also includes price transparency and strengthening the Lifeline Program.