To Do: Reform Broadband Subsidies
Recommendation
Congress should reform broadband subsidies to address the remaining causes of the digital divide: affordability and digital literacy.
Details
The geographic digital divide is solved as much as policy can solve it. The rise of new technologies, especially ubiquitous low-earth orbit satellite coverage, means that Congress and NTIA should retool BEAD to use funds efficiently: choosing the cheapest adequate technology rather than exhausting funds by building fiber to even the most remote locations.
After BEAD it is time to sunset deployment subsidies, including the FCC’s High-Cost Fund, and shift the focus of federal programs to barriers to adopting broadband that is already deployed.
The federal government should ensure that broadband is affordable for low-income households. The erstwhile Affordable Connectivity Program should be the model for a reformed program that narrowly targets households for whom broadband would otherwise be unaffordable. This program should be funded by long-term legislative appropriations, not off the books “contributions.”
Keep reading:
▪ Joe Kane, “Sustain Affordable Connectivity By Ending Obsolete Broadband Programs” (ITIF, July 2023), https://itif.org/publications/2023/07/17/sustain-affordable-connectivity-by-ending-obsolete-broadband-programs/.
▪ Jessica Dine, “Measuring Digital Literacy Gaps Is the First Step to Closing Them” (ITIF, April 2024), https://itif.org/publications/2024/04/26/measuring-digital-literacy-gaps-is-the-first-step-to-closing-them/.
▪ Jessica Dine “The Digital Inclusion Outlook: What It Looks Like and Where It’s Lacking” (ITIF, May 2023), https://itif.org/publications/2023/05/01/the-digital-inclusion-outlook-what-it-looks-like-and-where-its-lacking/.
