Morning Consult

Broadband access is a critical component of high-quality education. Connecting “last-mile” rural communities will require smart policies to make certain investments in broadband infrastructure are maximized for actual and timely deployment so that our truly unserved students and communities receive broadband access without delay. This includes pole access reform; the complex and costly process for broadband providers to attach to utility poles is one of the single greatest barriers to rural broadband deployment.

Throughout lawmakers’ partisan wrangling to iron out the details of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the popularity of major provisions held strong among voters according to new polling from Morning Consult and Politico. All of the six potential investments included in the survey received over 50 percent support from voters of all parties.

The pandemic made it clearer than ever how much we depend on a fast, reliable broadband. But getting online for millions of Americans is too costly and in many cases the service is inadequate. Robust competition creates scrutiny and accountability that can prevent big telecommunications companies from expanding data cap limits when people are more dependent than ever on an internet connection. Even during the pandemic, Comcast and other internet service providers still enforce these data caps in markets where they face little or no competition.

As the pandemic continues to underscore the importance of reliable, at-home internet service, debate rages over whether local governments should be permitted to build out and run their own broadband networks, either on their own or with the help of a private partner. The White House, in its infrastructure proposal released earlier this month, has thrown its support behind allowing municipalities to explore such options.

To truly unleash the power of localized broadband deployment, we should ensure all community-based providers have a seat at the table.

The latest COVID-19 relief package includes over $7 billion to expand E-rate to better tackle students’ at-home internet needs. But with the dollars doled out so far into the crisis and the end of the school year fast approaching, expectations for how the additional funding will be spent have shifted among school officials and advocates from getting quick fixes, like mobile hotspots, to more long-term projects that will ensure that schools can sustain the progress they’ve made to become more digital-learning friendly.

According to a new Morning Consult poll, 27 percent of Black, Hispanic and other non-white adults who make less than $50,000 annually said they have missed at least one internet bill payment since January 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak started spreading in the United States, compared to 16 percent of lower-income white adults.