Billions on the Way: "Though the Federal government will be footing the bill, it ultimately will be state and local governments deciding how to spend most of the [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act] money earmarked for broadband....".

• Author: Schwartzbach, Kevin
• Position: FRONTIER HORIZONS

NESTLED in the 1.2 trillion dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) signed into law by Pres. Joe Biden is the largest ever onetime Federal investment in broadband infrastructure. At $65,000,000,000, the funds designated for broadband constitute the biggest category of spending in the IIJA outside of transportation.

Though the Federal government will be footing the bill, it ultimately will be state and local governments deciding how to spend most of the IIJA money earmarked for broadband through the $42,500,000,000 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. This represents a significant departure from the roughly $85,000,000,000 total in previous Federal broadband spending since 2009, which almost entirely was controlled by Federal agencies, in that it shifts the locus of decisionmaking to the state and local level.

From think tanks and advocacy groups to NGOs and government agencies, calls for increased government funding for broadband infrastructure have abounded in recent years. The benefits of reliable high-speed Internet are numerous and well-documented, including allowing students to attend school remotely, making it easier for individuals to search for jobs, enabling patients to use telehealth services, and even increasing real per capita GDP.

However, in spite of these benefits, more than 30% of U.S. households do not have broadband, and the digital divide--the gaps in access to the Internet and other information technologies among certain groups of people--persists. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessity of broadband and the presence of disparities are more apparent than ever. Private sector investment alone cannot address these issues. To promote digital equity and inclusion, public sector funds, such as those offered in the IIJA, are crucial.

The Federal Communications Commission's definition of broadband is download speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 3 Mbps. Broadband Internet can be offered through fiber, cable, DSL, or satellite providers, and the quality and pricing of the service varies among the four. Fiber is the most reliable and offers download speeds of up to 10,000 Mbps, which, with an average cost of $63 per month, tends to cost more than cable (average of $51 per month) and DSL ($47 per month). Cable offers a maximum speed of 1,000 Mbps while DSL and satellite offer speeds up to 100 Mbps.

Satellite Internet is the most widely available and often is the only option in many rural areas. However, it also is the least reliable and the most expensive, with plans ranging from $70 to $150 per month, depending on the data cap. Quality can be poor and service is prone to going out on windy days or during storms. Satellite packages also come with data limits, such as 10 gigabits or 20 gigabits per month. Once the account reaches its data usage cap, upload and download speeds slow to below the FCC standard.

Last-mile networks are the part of the telecommunications network that connect local Internet service providers (ISPs) to end-users such as homes and businesses. Middle-mile networks connect these local last-mile networks to the backbone of the Internet, the network of large data routes that connect different regions and countries. Of the $65,000,000,000 in broadband funding in IIJA, only $1,000,-000,000 is designated for grants to build middle-mile infrastructure.

While a multitude of strategies exists, state-level policies and initiatives surrounding broadband largely fall into five categories: creation of strategic plans, mapping initiatives, and broadband offices; funding and tax incentives to encourage investment by private ISPs; construction of publicly owned broadband infrastructure; rights-of-way laws...