We Finally Have a Federal Fiber Broadband Plan

There is a lot to appreciate in the recently published “Notice of Funding Opportunity” (NOFO) by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA). It is arguably the first federal government proposal that seeks to promote infrastructure policies focused on the future, rather than the usual subsidizing “good enough for now” access. That means that the American government, or at least part of it, finally recognizes what appears obvious: that the future of internet access is in fiber.

The NOFO contains a strong emphasis on the deployment of open-access infrastructure designed to facilitate competition and meet the growing needs of communities. Lastly, it promotes affordability key priority outcome of the many projects that will get financed with federal tax dollars. Let’s dive into the details here.

Infrastructure That Will Last Decades

Congress was explicit in the bipartisan infrastructure law that it did not want the NTIA to implement a program that built broadband access solutions that would only be good enough for today and unprepared for tomorrow. Learning from past federal policy failures that squandered billions of federal dollars on outdated broadband infrastructure that will need to be replaced entirely, Congress emphasized a priority on projects that can “easily scale speeds over time” while meeting “evolving connectivity needs” and support “deployment of 5G” and “other advanced services” under Section 60102(a)(1)(I) of the bill:

(I) Priority Broadband Project – The term “priority broadband project” means a project designed to – 

(i) provider broadband service that meets speed, latency, reliability, consistency in quality of service, and related criteria as the Assistant Secretary shall determine; and

(ii) ensure that the network built by the project can easily scale speeds over time to –

        (I) meet the evolving connectivity needs of households and businesses; and

        (II) support the deployment of 5G, successor wireless technologies, and other advanced services.