ICT access as industrial policy

The United States currently lacks public policy assuring every American home is able to connect to landline Internet service as it did for voice telephone service in the 20th century under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. It is instead an aspirational goal rather than affirmative public policy.

According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 “expanded the traditional goal of universal service to include increased access to both telecommunications and advanced services …for all consumers at just, reasonable and affordable rates.” In the nearly three decades since the law was enacted, the nation continues to struggle to meet that goal with numerous proscribed subsidy programs despite many billions of dollars spent.

In 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) adopted an expanded view of access to advanced telecommunications service, including it in a broader context as access to “affordable information and communication technologies (ICT) such as reliable fixed and wireless broadband internet service.” That definition – titled “digital inclusion” -- acknowledges a long term shift from an analog, industrial age 20th century economy to a 21st century digital economy. It encompasses internet-enabled devices, applications and online content designed to enable and encourage self-sufficiency, participation, and collaboration” as well as access to digital literacy training, quality technical support, awareness of measures to ensure online privacy and cybersecurity.

Digital inclusion in turn supports “digital equity,” defined in the IIJA as “the condition in which individuals and communities have the information technology capacity that is needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States.” Accordingly, universal access to advanced telecommunications service is now framed in the larger context of access to ICT and the broad social and economic benefit of all Americans having access to and being able to use it.

In that regard, the IIJA states access to advanced telecommunications infrastructure as industrial policy – subsidizing and expanding access in order to promote social and economic benefit. This is an important development because it reframes public policy on advanced telecommunications infrastructure and access beyond the traditional market commodity based “broadband” offering.

However, the IIJA retains broadband service as a metric to determine eligibility for allocating $42.5 billion in grants to the states to subsidize advanced telecommunications infrastructure, with priority afforded to fiber to the premises (FTTP). Subsidies are largely targeted to areas where “broadband” – defined as 25Mbps down and 3Mbps – is not marketed to most serviceable addresses.

Industrial policy by definition calls for a broad and sustained effort. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is charged with administrating the IIJA advanced telecommunications infrastructure subsidy dollars. It describes that appropriation as representing only the beginning. According to a fact sheet, the NTIA’s subsidy program represents an “historic investment will lay critical groundwork for the infrastructure needed to connect everyone, from big cities to small towns and everything in between.” 

Another provision of the IIJA at Title VI that expresses industrial policy calls for the creation of an interagency federal working group to develop recommendations to address the workforce needs of the telecommunications industry and provide guidance to the states. In a report to Congress in January, the working group recommended measures to support the recruitment and retention of telecommunications workers.