Typically, the Department of Treasury is outside the scope of broadband policy. But in March, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, directing Treasury to disperse many, many billions of dollars to help State, local, and Tribal governments respond to the pandemic. And these billions may be used to expand access to broadband. The Department of Treasury recently issued an Interim Final Rule that would implement the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund which can be used for a number of purposes and investment in broadband infrastructure is explicitly one of them. In releasing the Interim Final Rule, Treasury is seeking public comment on its proposal.

As policymakers consider the best way to expand broadband availability, a key question is where to set speed targets which, in turn, will impact the technology used – fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), fiber-fed copper, fixed wireless or satellite. While some people argue that any government broadband support programs should be technology-neutral, we shouldn’t be “expectations-neutral” or “outcomes-neutral,” argued Ernesto Falcon, senior legislative counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Another key question, of course, is whether the US can afford to make fiber broadband available ubiquitously. CostQuest estimates that about 14.5 million US homes do not have fiber broadband or cable broadband available to them and that the typical cost to bring fiber to those homes is about $6,000 per home passed. Deployment at that cost “leads to a negative business case,” driving the need for government support programs, CostQuest president and CEO Jim Stegeman said. He also noted that the costliest 2% of homes would cost over $60,000 apiece to reach with fiber.

Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge warned the operator expects to face a range of challenges as it presses ahead with Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidized broadband buildouts. In December 2020, Charter won $1.2 billion in Phase I of the Federal Communications Commission’s RDOF auction to fuel broadband deployments across 24 states. Rutledge stressed the size of the undertaking, and he noted the rural nature of the markets it is set to cover will make construction harder. “Physically getting it done is a big deal,” he said. “Getting a labor force in the markets where we’re going to be is going to be difficult. The skillsets don’t exist. Clearing the poles and getting make-ready done is actually a big deal because the utility companies that exist in the rural areas don’t have the staff or the capabilities to get the work done. And so, it’s going to take time to build it out.” Charter believes “there are some things that we can do to, from a regulatory perspective, to make it go faster. And we’re promoting those ideas with regard to clearing poles and doing make-ready ourselves…but I can’t overemphasize how much of a big project this is. It’s physically large, and it’s capital intensive.”

Cox Communications announced that the increased internet download speed introduced at the onset of COVID-19 for its low-cost internet package Connect2Compete is now permanent. The speed was temporarily increased from 25 to 50 Mbps in March 2020 to support families in greatest need.  In addition, Cox is working to ensure eligible households can receive discounted service through the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program.

A broad array of advocacy groups, along with 19 attorneys general, other public officials, and tech companies including Mozilla are urging a federal appellate court to uphold California's network neutrality law. The advocacy groups are weighing in on a battle over a California state law that prohibits broadband providers from blocking or throttling traffic, charging higher fees for prioritized delivery, and from exempting certain material from customers' data caps. The state enacted that law in 2018, shortly after the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission repealed a set of similar net neutrality regulations that had been passed during the Trump era. US District Court Judge John Mendez in Sacramento (CA) rejected the industry's arguments earlier in 2021 when he refused to block the law from taking effect. The cable and telecom industry are now appealing Judge Mendez's ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and a host of other groups are urging the appellate court to uphold Judge Mendez's ruling. The organizations say in a friend-of-the-court brief that small businesses -- as well as schools, libraries, and low-income people and marginalized communities -- need to be able to rely on an open internet. Among other arguments, the advocacy organizations say small companies will be at a disadvantage if they have to pay for prioritized traffic delivery. Mozilla, along with watchdogs Access Now, Public Knowledge, New America's Open Technology Institute and Free Press, say in a separate friend-of-the-court brief that broadband carriers have a long history of violating net neutrality principles. Nineteen attorneys general add in their own friend-of-the-court brief that state governments should have the authority to pass laws aimed at “protecting their residents from abusive business practices.” “States have ample authority to prohibit or regulate business practices by broadband providers that harm consumers or jeopardize public health and safety,” the attorneys general write.