Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing to consider the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel, to continue as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (Rosenworcel also serves as chair of the FCC), and Alvaro Bedoya, to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. 

Having waited patiently for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, now people want to know what happens next—when will we all get our broadband? For now, the action shifts from Congress to key federal agencies that will implement the broadband provisions of the new law.

Passage of the Infrastructure legislation on November 5 was truly historic—surely the biggest boost ever to bringing high-speed broadband to every American household. While we get about the job of building broadband, we need to take up other communications issues that have been of even longer gestation and which have just as much, maybe more, urgency for our country. High on my list is media reform.

House Commerce Committee  Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) said, "With the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill today, we are modernizing our crumbling infrastructure, revitalizing our economy, and combating the worsening climate crisis.... the infrastructure bill’s sweeping investments in broadband access, affordability, and adoption will help us close the digital divide. Every community – regardless of zip code – needs and deserves access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet, and with today’s action we take a giant step toward making that a reality.

President Joe Biden will sign the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law soon. In the broadband infrastructure, adoption, and affordability sections, Congress has included some critical language that lays the foundation for the broadband future we are about to embark upon. Congress lays out a critical set of challenges, principles and goals that every state and local policymaker, every community leader, and every broadband provider should embrace and evangelize.

One aim of the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is to ensure that every American has access to reliable high-speed internet service. Here we begin a multi-part series looking at the major broadband-related provisions of the legislation. First up: over $42 billion for broadband deployment grants to the states. We look at why new broadband maps are so critical to these efforts, what the grants can be used for, the process for states to receive the support, and a timeline moving forward. The U.S.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will not just build broadband networks, it aims to ensure that every American can use reliable high-speed internet service. The Digital Equity Act of 2021 allocates $2.75 billion to the states for digital inclusion planning and the implementation of those plans. Key definitions of digital equity, digital inclusion, and covered populations are included in the new Digital Equity Act. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act also created the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program and the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program.

Provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provide a new funding mechanism to improve middle-mile infrastructure and make it easier to deliver broadband in currently unserved and underserved areas. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will create a program that makes grants on a technology-neutral, competitive basis to eligible entities for the construction, improvement, or acquisition of middle-mile infrastructure.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act not only provides the means to make broadband service more available by funding deployment of broadband middle-mile and last-mile networks, it also aims to make the service provided more affordable so more people can subscribe and use it.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Congress has allocated many billions of dollars to states, territories and Tribal lands to extend the reach of broadband, including over $42 billion in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In February 2021, a bipartisan group of senators (1) introduced the Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, legislation to address the shortage of trained workers necessary to fill jobs in the telecommunications industry in communities throughout the country.