Cable lobby says it hates Biden plan to expand broadband and lower prices

President Joe Biden's plan to expand broadband access and lower prices is, predictably, facing bitter opposition from cable companies that want to maintain the status quo. NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, which represents Comcast, Charter, Cox, and other cable companies, argued that President Biden's plan is "a serious wrong turn." NCTA is particularly mad that President Biden wants to expand municipal broadband networks that could fill gaps where there's no high-speed broadband from private ISPs and lower prices by providing competition to cable companies that usually dominate their regional territories. "The White House has elected to go big on broadband infrastructure, but it risks taking a serious wrong turn in discarding decades of successful policy by suggesting that the government is better suited than private-sector technologists to build and operate the Internet," wrote NCTA CEO Michael Powell. 

A group that represents small, rural broadband providers issued a far more positive statement about the Biden plan. "No infrastructure package would be complete without digital infrastructure, and on behalf of NTCA's members, I want to thank President Biden for recognizing the importance of broadband access in his new American Jobs Plan," said Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association. "We need to aim high and invest in efficient and scalable technologies like fiber to meet the needs not only of today's consumers but also tomorrow's," Bloomfield said.