As part of her larger plan to help rural American, including plans for health care and green economic investments, Elizabeth Warren is proposing guaranteed universal high-speed internet access.
"I will make sure every home in America has a fiber broadband connection at a price families can afford," she says in the post announcing her plan. "That means publicly-owned and operated networks—and no giant ISPs running away with taxpayer dollars." She points out that the federal government has "shoveled billions of taxpayer dollars to private ISPs in an effort to expand broadband to remote areas, but those providers have done the bare minimum with these resources—offering internet speeds well below the FCC minimum." She'll end that, she says, by pre-empting the state laws in 26 states that are "hindering or banning municipalities from building their own broadband infrastructure."
She would also create an Office of Broadband Access in her new Department of Economic Development that "will manage a new $85 billion federal grant program to massively expand broadband access across the country." Those grants would be available only to "electricity and telephone cooperatives, non-profit organizations, tribes, cities, counties, and other state subdivisions," ensuring that no corporation could grift off of the program. The grants would be used to build fiber infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, as well as those with minimal broadband competition. It would set aside $5 billion specifically for tribal nations to expand it on their land.
She, of course, will "appoint FCC Commissioners who will restore net neutrality, regulating internet service providers as 'common carriers' and maintaining open access to the Internet." She'll also require that telecoms pay into the Universal Service Fund to provide subsidies to low-income families, schools, and libraries for broadband access. Her FCC commissioners will also "require ISPs to report service and speeds down to the household level, as well as aggregate pricing data, and work with community stakeholders—including tribal nations—to make sure we get this process right." Not just that, but "we will make these data available to the public and conduct regular audits to ensure accurate reporting."
She would also crack down on other unfair and uncompetitive practices telecoms have used, and "return control of utility poles and conduits to cities, prohibit landlords from making side deals with private ISPs to limit choices in their properties, and ban companies from limiting access to wires inside buildings." Oh, and she promises to "work to pass the Digital Equity Act, which invests $2.5 billion over ten years to help states develop digital equity plans and launch digital inclusion projects."
If you're an internet user and not a big telecom, it's hard to take issue with any of this. It's ambitious, as all of her plans are, but it is also perfectly reasonable from a consumer standpoint. And from an economic development standpoint. And from a fairness standpoint.
