Broadband Breakfast

The director of the Department of Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund for broadband expansion projects in response to the coronavirus pandemic said that most dispensed funds will ultimately go towards fiber broadband projects. The Capital Projects Fund was established from the reserve of $10 billion dedicated to capital projects enabling work, education and health monitoring when President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was passed in March 2021.

Broadband advocates argued that outreach and digital literacy are as important as infrastructure and are necessary to close the digital divide. National Digital Inclusion Alliance Executive Director Angela Siefer explained during a Protocol event April 21 that the government’s considerations need to extend beyond the deployment of physical broadband infrastructure and should be equally focused on addressing digital literacy and adoption efforts in underserved and unserved communities.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) predicted that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will help get internet into every home in America within the next four to five years. The bill itself does not provide a concrete timeline as to when this goal would be achieved, but various government officials, including Rep Clyburn, have made promises to the American people that it could come sooner than some may expect. “In five years, I think this going to be a successful venture,” said Rep Clyburn.

On November 1, President Biden joined world leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. Broadband also is a “green strategy” that can help lessen impacts on the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is a key linchpin, as is housing, for a triple bottom-line strategy to promote sustainability: prosperous economy, quality environment, and community equity.

Experts on digital empowerment pressed the federal government to maintain a focus on broadband equity during the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA)'s October 6 event as part of “National Digital Inclusion Week.” Speaking about the broader agenda for NDIA, executive director Angela Siefer said that NDIA’s purpose was to provide “peer-to-peer learning. We get the conversation started. Everything we get is from boots on the ground.” This theme of community-informed practice and knowledge sharing echoed throughout the event.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition released a set of Pole Attachment Principles to Expedite Broadband Deployment to Anchor Institutions and Their Communities. We must reform the outdated, lengthy and costly process of attaching broadband cables to utility poles. Utility poles are the backbone of the nation’s critical broadband infrastructure and play a particularly important role in connecting rural residents and anchors to reliable, high-speed internet.

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr said he is committed to pushing for permanent principles for broadband and data regulation. And he would like to see those principles — including how the FCC should operate and regulate — insulated from political swings every election by codifying them in law. Noting the long-lasting effects of the pandemic, he said people are looking for stability and long-term solutions for the digital divide.