Biden plan could pour billions into Wisconsin
Broadband expansion priority for president
A $100 billion Biden administration plan to get all Americans connected to high-speed internet, as “the new electricity” that’s now a necessity, could pour several billion into Wisconsin. It would also reignite a debate over whether municipalities should be allowed in the broadband business.
President Joe Biden has said he wants to make it easier for local governments and member-owned cooperatives to build and operate networks in competition with companies such as AT&T, Frontier Communications and CenturyLink.
In his American Jobs Plan, a wish list of public infrastructure projects with a $2 trillion price tag, the president included $100 billion to “bring affordable, reliable high-speed broadband to every American.”
The White House said Biden’s plan would build “future proof ” networks in unserved areas, focusing on systems “owned, operated by, or affiliated with” local governments, nonprofits and cooperatives.
In a nod to fueling competition, the plan would require broadband providers to “clearly disclose the prices they charge.”
“Americans pay too much for the internet – much more than people in many other countries,” the White House said. “The President is committed to working with Congress to find a solution to reduce internet prices for all Americans ... to hold providers accountable, and save taxpayer money.”
A shift in how broadband is funded
The recently announced Biden plan is more a list of ideas than specific proposals. But it could signal a policy shift from the traditional practice of just handing out subsidies to broadband providers to build out networks in rural areas.
It’s a step in the right direction, according to Barry Orton, a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison telecommunications professor who has helped local governments with telecom issues.
“The words are good,” Orton said, but the proof will come in the details.
The Biden administration will face “enormous pressure” from the private sector to not allow government-run networks, he added.
Broadband, as defined by the
Federal Communications Commission, is a minimum internet speed of 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads — adequate for streaming a video but becoming insufficient for multiple users of the same household online at the same time.
About 25% of Wisconsin’s rural population lacks access, according to a state Public Service Commission estimate.
Scores of sparsely populated communities remain stuck with internet speeds that fall short of the FCC’s definition of broadband, if they even have access.
Many folks live with poor internet service “every single day,” Julie Bomar, executive director of Wisconsin Farmers Union, said in a recent roundtable discussion led by state Agriculture Secretary Randy Romanski.
Broadband ought to be treated like a utility, said Ashley Gausman, a board member of the Wisconsin Agri-Business Association.
“Everybody needs to have access to it,” she said.
$4 billion possible for Wisconsin networks
Biden’s plan could funnel around $4 billion into Wisconsin to fuel networks having “less pressure to turn profits and with a commitment to serving entire communities.”
It could seek to strike down laws that discourage or restrict municipal-owned networks as unfair competition to the private sector. Currently, Wisconsin is among about 20 states with such laws.
“The best way to connect more customers is to partner with a private-sector provider,” said Bill Esbeck, executive director of the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association. “The coverage gaps that remain are the difficult, expensive areas to serve,” he said.
Opponents to Biden’s plan say it threatens decades of investments.
“The White House has elected to go big on broadband infrastructure,” Michael Powell, president of NCTA, a lobbying group for cable television and internet service providers, said in a statement.
“But it risks taking a serious wrong turn ... by suggesting that the government is better suited than private-sector technologists to build and operate the internet,” he said.
Powell, who was FCC chairman under President George W. Bush, disagreed with the Biden administration’s vision of activist government.
“Government does have a critical role to play in getting networks to areas that lack service and helping low-income families afford it,” he said. “However, those targeted, shared goals are not served by suggesting wrongly that the entire network is ailing, and that the solution is either to prioritize government-owned networks or micromanage private networks.”
Evers proposes state funding
Gov. Tony Evers has proposed nearly $200 million in broadband funding in his 2021-’23 state budget, five times the amount included in the 2013, 2015 and 2017 budgets combined.
Since 2014, the state Public Service Commission has awarded 268 broadband expansion grants totaling $72.5 million. This spring alone, it approved $28 million in 58 grants, the highest dollar amount in any single round of the subsidies.
For many reasons, bridging the rural digital divide is difficult, especially with future-proof solutions such as fiber-optic cable that can cost $40,000 a mile.
“But in this current economy, not having broadband is pretty much a guarantee you’re not going to have success,” Mark O’Connell, executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association, said in Romanski’s roundtable discussion.
“The attention we’re giving to this, I think, is well founded,” he said.
The White House says more than 30 million Americans don’t have access to high-speed internet at all, and millions more can’t afford it. Congressional Democrats have introduced broadband legislation of their own, including a $94 billion bill from Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota who, in a statement, said she approved of Biden’s plan.
But exactly what gets built, where, isn’t clear, and many Republicans oppose putting federal funds into areas that already have internet service, even if it’s slow and doesn’t meet the FCC definition of broadband.