Today, it is very easy for us to take the internet for granted. But broadband has such a huge impact on our lives. 90% of Americans say that the internet has been essential or important to them during the pandemic. Yet, we know that access to broadband and the internet is not created equal, with more than 30 million Americans lacking access to reliable broadband, and the problem is worse in minority and rural communities. As the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has reported, 38 percent of Black households in the rural South lack access to broadband at acceptable speeds. Black families in general are 9 percent less likely to have high-speed internet than their white peers. Right here in Georgia, 15% of households do not have an internet subscription, and over 640,000 Georgians lack access to broadband. This is an injustice, and it must end. Fortunately, I am here to tell you that help is on the way. Because of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are finally able to tackle this issue in a robust and meaningful way by providing $65 billion to expand broadband in communities across the US— $48 billion of which is being allocated to the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Every single state, including Georgia, will receive at least $100 million for broadband expansion and affordability. This landmark legislation will also provide $2.75 billion to fund the Digital Equity Act, which provides funding to promote digital inclusion and equity for communities to take advantage of broadband connections, including technical.

The goal of universal service is to ensure that essential communications services are available and affordable for all. Equity remains a bedrock principle: the notion that society should take steps to ensure that all (or nearly all) citizens can use communications networks. However, whereas it was once fairly easy to identify the goal—widespread adoption of telephone service—today the situation is not as clear. Should, for instance, “universal service” include internet access? If so, at what level of service? If internet access is part of universal service, should there be support for computing devices to access digital networks? In the United States today, nearly all households have telephone service. But inequalities become clear when looking at internet access by income. At the upper end of income distribution, it is the norm to have multiple pathways to accessing the internet. The 2019 American Community Survey shows that three-quarters (75 percent) of households whose annual incomes exceed $50,000 have both a wireline broadband subscription and a cellular data plan. For low-income Americans, the story is very different. Just over one-third (36 percent) of households whose incomes are $25,000 per year or less have both wireline and cellular data plan subscriptions. For households whose annual incomes are between $25,000 and $50,000, 52 percent have both wireline and cellular data plan subscriptions.

Until the pandemic hit, I rarely thought about upload bandwidth. I mostly used upload bandwidth to send files to people, and I rarely cared if they received the files immediately – I was happy as long as files got sent. But the pandemic changed everything for millions of people. All of a sudden, homes were unable to function well due to problems with uploading. We also learned that broadband networks vary by neighborhood – something that I don’t recall ever being discussed before the pandemic. We learned how awful rural broadband technologies can be when most rural folks had problems working and schooling from home. We've been learning more about jitter, which measures the variance in broadband signal strength. We learned how the cable companies use the worst spectrum on a cable system to transmit upload speeds. We’ve also learned that the pandemic has been good for the ISPs, although they aren’t talking about it.

More than 42 million Americans lack broadband access, including many in rural communities, according to research group BroadbandNow, which provides independent data on broadband access and policy. Now, states have access to significant federal funding to improve the situation. The American Rescue Plan Act earmarked $350 billion for a variety of services for state and local agencies, including expanded broadband access. At the same time, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act put another $65 billion in broadband funding on the table, $42 billion of which will be in the form of grants to states. If a state fails to apply, a local government may apply on its behalf. In terms of technology, states have a number of avenues open to them. While there are a variety of available ways to get broadband into rural communities, no one path represents a panacea. “You could say, ‘Let’s roll fiber everywhere,’” says Greenblatt. “But that’s mind-bogglingly expensive and will consume the dollars allotted very quickly. It’s not really cost-effective.” Satellites represent another possible avenue. “Instead of running fiber, which could be between $25,000 and $50,000 per mile, you can just subsidize an individual’s connection through satellites,” Gupta says.

Joshua Edmonds, director of Digital Inclusion with the City of Detroit, said the city set up a program in 2019 called Connect 313 to help residents get access to broadband connectivity. The initial goal was “building a table for which everybody who was intersecting with the Digital Divide could sit. Whether that’s our telecom providers, residents, non-profits, community organizations, churches, big tech companies.” The program now has over 500 member organizations. The City of Detroit has done a number of things as part of Connect 313. It set up its own call center for residents who want to learn about the Emergency Broadband Benefit, which has now rolled into the Affordable Connectivity Program. Connect 313 has done a number of commercials and public service announcements to inform the public about its benefits. It’s working with a re-furbisher to help people access low-cost devices. It’s been able to establish its own fund to support community initiatives. And it’s establishing a grant-seeking arm to tap federal and state grants.

Sen Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the Broadband Buildout Accountability Act with Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) to increase transparency for a $42 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Package (BIF) broadband buildout grant awarded to the National Technology Information Administration (NTIA), which is currently exempted from transparency requirements under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The bill would remove the FOIA exemption and require proof of how the $42 billion is spent to ensure taxpayer dollars are not misused. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), and Todd Young (R-IN) have also cosponsored the bill.