PD Editorial: Wait for the next big investment in rural broadband

Everyone wants a piece of the federal windfall coming to California under the banner of pandemic relief. Among those with their hands out are telecommunications advocates. They’ve asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to spend $2 billion on improving broadband internet access to Californians who don’t have it or can’t afford it. Broadband access is important, but Newsom should proceed carefully before spending that much money on it instead of other pandemic needs.

The pandemic laid bare America’s lingering digital divide. Households without reliable broadband access struggled to remain full participants in society during lockdowns and school closures. It’s hard to work from home, attend remote school or have a cocktail hour with friends when you can’t stream video well.

Estimates vary, but anywhere from 120,000 to more than 650,000 California households still don’t have high-speed internet access, either due to lack of availability or cost. It’s a problem the state — and the nation — must address.

Last month, the president of the California Cable and Telecommunications Association wrote to the governor asking for $2 billion to chip away at the challenge. Half would go for infrastructure to reach rural, tribal and other remote communities. The other half would go to expanding access for low-income households, especially those in urban communities of color.

If all of this sounds familiar, it should. California has been wringing its hands about broadband access for two decades. In 2002, the Legislature passed a bill directing the Public Utilities Commission to come up with a plan to bridge the digital divide by expanding access for “rural, inner-city, low-income and disabled Californians.”

The state created the California Advanced Services Fund, which over the years has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to provide broadband access with a target of reaching 98% of California households. A tax on people’s cellphone and other telecommunications bills generates money for the fund. The current tax rate is a little more than 1%.

Part of the challenge of closing the digital divide is that it is a moving target. In the mid-2000s, the Federal Communications Commission defined broadband as any internet service that offered downstream speeds of at least 200 kilobits per second. Today, the FCC defines it as at least 25 megabits per second, and some U.S. senators want them to increase the minimum to 100 mbps. If those senators get their way, acceptable broadband speeds will have increased 500-fold in a decade and a half. It’s hard to reach every household with broadband when the goal posts keep moving.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Broadband internet access is essential in the modern world. Before pumping $2 billion into expanding it, however, Newsom should assess the effectiveness of the California Advanced Services Fund. It expires in a couple of years, and that will be an ideal time to review where it delivered and where it did not. Then, if there’s something to build on, renew the tax that funds it.

Providing broadband to all will be an ongoing expense, whether paying for infrastructure in remote areas or subsidizing needed service for low-income Californians. Paying for it will require an ongoing revenue stream, not a one-time gift from Uncle Sam.

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