Telecommunications fights price caps as US spends billions on internet access

AT&T, Charter, Comcast and Verizon are quietly trying to weaken a $42.5 billion federal program to improve internet access across the nation, aiming to block strict new rules that would require them to lower their poorest customers’ monthly bills in exchange for a share of the federal aid. In state after state, the firms have blasted the proposed price cuts as illegal—forcing regulators in California, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and elsewhere to rethink, scale back, or abandon their plans to condition the federal funds on financial relief for consumers. The lobbying campaign threatens to undermine the largest burst of money to upgrade the country’s internet service in US history. Enacted by President Joe Biden as part of a sprawling 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the funds are intended to deliver speedy and affordable broadband to the final unserved pockets of America by 2030—a goal that the White House likens to the federal campaign to electrify the nation’s heartland. For some state and federal officials, though, the fear is that the massive influx of aid could fall short of its potential, particularly if Americans cannot afford the new broadband service in their long-neglected communities.