- The BEAD program promises to usher in a monumental era of broadband connectivity, but we won’t see that come to fruition for years
- Technology is changing at a scary pace and without reliable internet, people will miss out on job opportunities, education, telehealth, etc.
- In a world where everything’s getting more expensive, the Affordable Connectivity Program is probably our best shot at better broadband
BEAD has been the talk of the town for the past few years. The U.S. government touts the program is key to closing the country’s digital divide once and for all. Billions of dollars are on the line, so BEAD must succeed…right?
People are worrying about how long it’s taking for the BEAD ship to sail. An NTIA exec recently said BEAD “was always a 10-year program,” a timeline that apparently wasn’t clear from the program’s inception. Louisiana is the only state so far that’s awarded BEAD grants, and providers elsewhere may have to wait until 2026 to get their deployment funds.
On top of that, Donald Trump’s return to the White House is poised to shake up the status quo of broadband and other technology sectors. With Elon Musk spearheading the new “Department of Government Efficiency,” BEAD will likely get a major makeover come 2025 – featuring less fiber, more Starlink.
I don’t want to downplay BEAD’s importance too much, because we’ll probably never see something like it again in our lifetimes. But amid all the uncertainty about what BEAD will and won’t be under Trump, there’s a glaring elephant in the room. Millions of Americans already have access to broadband that’s either unaffordable or just frankly, sucks.
According to recent broadband mapping data, roughly 7.5 million locations in the U.S. are considered unserved or underserved. While that number has decreased from 12 million in 2022, it’s still an awful lot of people without reliable internet. They don’t have the luxury of waiting for the BEAD Fairy to make all their broadband dreams come true.
Technology is changing at a scary pace. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a looming force to be reckoned with, alongside augmented reality, quantum computing, cybersecurity advancements; the list goes on. All these things could upend how we live, work and play by 2030 – and we still won’t be done with BEAD.
If people can’t even get past the loading screen on their browser, how can they become aware of how all these emerging technologies will affect them? Covid moved EVERYTHING online, from schooling to healthcare to job opportunities. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Most of us live half our lives on the internet, and its influence won’t go away in the foreseeable future.
It’s not just the far-flung rural areas we need to worry about. Urban communities have more than their fair share of broadband affordability problems. In Philadelphia, for example, 29% of the population doesn’t subscribe to home internet. And a broadband official for Oakland, the eighth most populous city in California, has said the city is still considered unserved.
If we can’t even get the job done in big cities, I’m not liking our chances with BEAD.
BEAD does provide guidance for how states can use “non-deployment” funds, which is the money they’ll have left once they’ve completed building out broadband infrastructure. Funds can be used for digital equity initiatives, workforce development, device assistance, etc.
That sounds great, it really does. But again, we simply don’t have the time to wait for all the infrastructure to be built and THEN tackle the affordability crisis. We need to address broadband affordability now, and honestly, I think reviving the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is our best shot.
ACP was a bipartisan program that benefited both red and blue states, and Congress still axed it because it just couldn’t figure out where to get the money. While Congress hemmed and hawed and then got distracted by the latest shiny object, millions of citizens lost subsidies vital to keeping them connected.
The ACP’s $30/month subsidy doesn’t seem like a lot, but if you’re working minimum wage that translates to about four hours of work. We’re all feeling the brunt of inflation, too. Grocery prices are skyrocketing and products are being crammed into tinier and tinier packages. Can’t we catch a break with our broadband bill?
Many ISPs scrambled to introduce alternative low-cost plans following ACP’s demise, but that’s just not going to cut it in the long run.
I can’t be certain what stance Trump will take on the ACP. However, I’m a bit more optimistic that we’ll see an effort to bring back ACP in 2025, given VP-elect J.D. Vance earlier this year cosponsored a Senate bill for more program funding.
Here’s some more good news. States realize they can’t afford to sit on their thumbs and wait for BEAD to work its magic. Maine and New Mexico for instance are looking at satellite broadband to connect their unserved quicker. Satellite does have its issues, but experts generally agree it’s faster and cheaper to deploy than fiber broadband.
And just because we’re betting big on BEAD doesn’t mean other broadband programs aren’t doing squat. Remember ARPA and the Capital Projects Fund? Yeah, that still exists. The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) is also chugging along, though it has its own problems.
It’s not all doom-and-gloom on the broadband access front. BEAD will happen in some shape or form, but it’s not the Holy Grail that will magically make our connectivity woes go away. Let’s stop acting like it is.
