Affordability/Cost/Price

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.

North Carolina could be on the receiving end of more than a billion dollars to expand broadband internet access between the bipartisan infrastructure plan and the upcoming state budget. And that could lead to some of the largest-ever investments in broadband in a state with a rural population larger than any other, except for Texas. It still remains to be seen exactly how much North Carolina will get from the federal infrastructure bill, as the money is being distributed in a formulaic approach among 50 states and territories.

Among the $65 billion allocated to broadband in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the Act), $42.45 billion will be used to fund a last-mile broadband development grant program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The scale of this investment is unlike anything seen before in US history.

Senators' year-end to-do list includes key Federal Communications Commission nominations and more funding for broadband and antitrust efforts. All eyes are on the Democrats’ social spending package, which includes money for broadband and antitrust enforcement and gives the Federal Trade Commission a long-sought fining authority. White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese projected confidence that the House would pass the package this week. Even if that happens, it will still need Senate approval, which will likely be pushed to December.

In many parts of the country, access to a strong internet connection isn't a given. The Hope Center at Temple University reported in March that about 40% of college students have struggled with internet or computer access during the pandemic. The real number may be much higher: The report noted that, because the research relied on student responses from an online survey, "inadequate internet access could have contributed to low response rates." But help is on the way.

$48 billion of that funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal is being allocated to the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) through the following programs:

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo discussed the Commerce Department's role in implementing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's broadband initiatives. Of the $65 billion for broadband in the infrastructure package, $42.5 billion goes to the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration to create the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program. "I will confess this is going to be a massive undertaking for the Department of Commerce, but we’re up for it, said Raimondo.

Diversity groups urged the Federal Communications Commission to start now to bake equity into 6G wireless. In a November 8 letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the groups, led by Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council (MMTC) and including Rainbow PUSH, the NAACP and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, asked that the FCC take these five steps to ensure the delivery of affordable and accessible services to communities of color:

To address the enduring nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Communications Commission clarifies that for the second round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, applicants will receive points on their applications for being located in a hotspot or a sustained hotspot based on the relevant dataset as of either (1) May 6, 2021, the date when the application filing window closed, or (2) November 19, 2021, the date when the ten-day resubmission period closes.

Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) introduced a bill designed to learn more about how rural broadband can be improved. Rural broadband providers have to make significant investments in order to carry data-intensive content delivered by “edge providers” such as Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube. The Rural Broadband Network Advancement Act would require the Federal Communications Commission to study the impact that intensive “edge provider data” has on the service costs of rural broadband providers.