Our roads, bridges, and water systems may be “crumbling,” but broadband isn’t broken.
President Biden’s American Jobs Plan identifies the nation’s infrastructure that needs to be fixed, rebuilt and rehabilitated. While federal funds for broadband deployment in unserved areas of the country are urgently needed, America’s existing networks don’t need to be saved by taxpayers. As-is, the administration’s plan would undermine 25 years of private investment by tossing aside existing high-speed internet infrastructure. Taxpayer dollars should instead be tightly focused on closing the digital divide.
The U.S. broadband industry has poured more than $1.8 trillion into networks since 1996, the largest investment in any sector of the U.S. economy. Those dollars have delivered ever-increasing speeds and network capacity. Over the past decade, internet speeds have increased more than 12,400%, while the average price per megabit of a broadband subscription has declined by 92%.
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