Due to excessive reliance on privatized advanced telecommunications infrastructure and weak regulatory and market incentives, the United States is many years behind where it should be when it comes to replacing ubiquitous copper telephone lines built for an era of voice telephone service with fiber for today’s Internet-protocol enabled services. That became painfully apparent with public health social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic that made households very reliant on advanced telecommunications for work, education, purchasing goods and services, virtual medical care and entertainment. Impatience with lack of reliable, affordable access -- present pre-pandemic -- reached a boiling point.
The enactment of advanced telecommunications infrastructure subsidies in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act last November has raised expectations of rapid relief after years of dashed political promises by elected officials to address the issue. The billions in subsidies set aside for advanced telecommunications infrastructure has been characterized as a once in a lifetime investment to finally put it to rest.
But the legislative provisions of the subsidies to be granted states as well as recently issued rules governing the grants will likely introduce additional delay even before any infrastructure is built. Expect months if not years of delays as incumbent investor-owned telephone and cable companies battle states, smaller upstarts and publicly owned projects over eligibility rules governing the subsidies and how they can be used.
Unlike transportation infrastructure such as roads, highways and airports that are expected to take many years to plan and build, voters may well have far less patient expectations. They’ll want to see fast, tangible progress when it comes to advanced telecommunications infrastructure. Especially with neighbors just down the road or around the bend who have fiber connections, envious while they try to get by on DSL over aged copper and wireless workarounds. Or fiber on a nearby utility pole but no affordable residential service in the case of Vermonter Claudia Harris. They’ll naturally think since they’ve been waiting for years for fiber, all those billions in federal subsidies should easily bridge the gap to their homes in short order. When it doesn’t quickly materialize, elected officials at all levels of government could face angry blowback from voters. They are well aware of the high level of concern among their constituents, noting complaints about Internet access and affordability are among the top issues raised by them.
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