Don’t waste billions to come from D.C.

The passage of President Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill represents a historic effort to narrow the digital divide, with billions invested into expanding broadband access.

This funding comes at a pivotal moment as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown just how important reliable and fast Internet is to keep up in today’s economy.

But just having the money is not enough. As a member of the Communications Workers of America and President of CWA Local 1298, I have seen how past federal funding for broadband access has been wasted by Internet Service Providers, who often use this money with little oversight and fail to direct it towards the communities who need it most.

This time, we need to make every dollar count. While the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Commerce Department will have some oversight over how states spend their money, more needs to be done. That is why I am calling on Connecticut to increase regulation of how this money is distributed once it starts flowing to states.

The impacts of the digital divide have become even more pronounced during the pandemic. Many students who have switched to remote learning have fallen behind their classmates because they could not connect online. Small businesses have had difficulty serving their customers after their operations shifted to their homes which could not support the needed bandwidth. Elderly community members who may not have wanted to visit a hospital due to the threat of the pandemic could not log in for their telehealth appointments.

While these new investments from Washington will help address these issues, it needs to be spent the right way. Oftentimes, ISP’s who receive this money contract with third party service providers that do not have the technical expertise to build out high-speed broadband systems. It has been reported that these contractors, who often use non-unionized workers who receive poor pay and benefits, have installed equipment that has malfunctioned and become completely unusable. Our investments in infrastructure will only be worthwhile and highquality if skilled workers are able to complete these projects.

We have also given the private sector far too much latitude to determine the future of broadband connectivity. While healthy competition and robust options are essential, there needs to be appropriate legislative oversight to ensure that we are building out our network to the places that actually need it. ISPs often avoid investment in harder to reach areas because it can be logistically challenging and expensive. We need the state to play a bigger role in directing ISPs to reach those who currently lack connection.

Federal funding for broadband is a step in the right direction, but Connecticut needs to step and ensure the money is worthwhile. Getting this right is essential for economic growth and equality in our state, and we cannot pass up this rare opportunity to invest in this critical 21st century infrastructure.