Internet For All – Lessons in Trying to Bring High-Speed Broadband to Every Home in the United States

Speaker

Henning Schulzrinne, Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Mathematical Methods and Computer Science; Professor of Electrical Engineering

Event Details

Thursday, March 27, 2025 (2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET)

Location: EE Conference Room, Mudd 1300

Talk Information

Abstract: Since 2010, the U.S. government has created a number of programs to build out internet access in high-cost areas, along with attempts to make internet access available to low-income households, schools, libraries and health clinics. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) allocated $42.5 billion for broadband deployment as the BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment), with the goal of providing 100 Megabit or faster high-quality internet access to every household and small business in the 56 states and territories within four years of selecting providers. (This amount is roughly four times the total NSF budget.) NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), located within the Department of Commerce, administers the BEAD project. I served two years on the BEAD policy team. In this talk, I will discuss:

  1. Why subsidize rural broadband? What has been tried before?
  2. What are the difficult policy choices in getting to 100% deployment?
  3. What roles do bespoke software, “big data,” and data analysis play in administering complex grant programs?
  4. How do government teams work in practice?

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