Broadband ISPs should be held to a higher public interest standard and regulated like traditional utilities in California, a new joint study by nonprofit state policy news outlet Cal Matters and UC Berkeley’s Possibility Lab argues. State governments should also vocally support community broadband networks as a direct challenge to monopoly power, the authors state.

The study specifically looked at the broadband sector in California, where 15 percent of California households – predominately in low income and minority communities – lack broadband access. It concludes that dramatic federal and state policy failures have resulted in unchecked monopolies and muted competition that directly harms the public interest.

While the study lauds California’s dramatic $6 billion “Broadband For All” initiative, which is driving historic new investment into last and middle mile network upgrades, it also states that the state’s full vision for equitable access cannot be achieved without rate controls, universal access requirements, and strict reliability standards for large incumbent ISPs.

The study also urges state leaders to aggressively embrace municipal broadband cooperatives to address regionalized market failure and improve overall accountability.

“California should actively encourage and support the formation of municipal broadband
cooperatives across the state, particularly in underserved rural and suburban communities
where incumbent providers have failed to deliver adequate service,” the study observes.

Monopoly Dysfunction, Muted Competition

Like most U.S. states, California communities are dominated by a handful of cable and phone giants that have leveraged their immense political power to box out local competition creating dominant regional monopolies and duopolies.

When Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it sought to foster innovation and competition in telecommunications markets, expand the definition of universal service, and modernize regulatory structures for the digital age. Three decades later, architects of the ‘96 Act say it achieved many of those goals, but numerous legal challenges following its passage reshaped how key provisions were implemented.

“Litigation shaped so much of what the Act eventually became,” said Mignon Clyburn, a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, speaking Thursday among a panel of former FCC regulators, legal counsel, and policy advisors who helped shape and defend the landmark telecom law.

Gathered for an event organized by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society marking the law’s 30th anniversary, the event reflected on both the spirit and letter of the landmark legislation which has shaped much of the modern Internet in the United States. The first major overhaul of telecommunications law in more than 60 years, the ‘96 Act required the FCC to conduct more than 80 separate rulemakings addressing everything from appropriate pricing, to interconnection rules and the unbundling of incumbent telephone networks.

On paper, it’s cheaper to connect densely-clustered residences. But, as many as 4.3 million households inside apartment, condo, and mobile-home complexes do not have Internet access – either because the service is unaffordable or because the building has antiquated wiring.

Given the importance of Internet access for meaningful participation in a digital economy – and because universal access to high-speed Internet has cascading community benefits that not only save subscribers and municipalities money, but also improve health outcomes – more cities and towns are looking to ensure high-performance Internet access is available in what industry insiders call “multi-dwelling units” (MDUs).

Next week, the increasingly popular webinar series hosted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) Community Broadband Networks initiative and the American Association of Public Broadband (AAPB) will dive into the challenge head-on with a focus on how local communities can better serve the places where the largest numbers of disconnected Americans are clustered.

The free webinar – “High-Density, High Impact: Connecting Apartment Buildings, Public Housing and Multi-Dwelling Units” – is slated for March 19 from noon to 1 pm ET.

Registration is now open here.

“Most of the federal government’s funding focus for building new networks is targeted at sparsely populated rural areas. But the fact is: apartment buildings – especially those living in public housing in urban and suburban settings – represent large concentrations of unconnected or underconnected households,” AAPB Executive Director Gigi Sohn said. 

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law today new legislation that aims to provide tens of thousands of low-income households in “The Land of Enchantment” an Internet lifeline similar to the now-expired federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

It makes the state the first to step up in the absence of federal action to support households that just can’t afford to pay for monthly service, and will directly support 173,000 households.

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Senate Bill 152 – first filed on January 26 of this year by State Sen. Michael Padilla, (D) Majority Whip – will update the state’s Rural Telecommunications Act and empower the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) to offer up to $30/month for qualified households to pay for Internet service.

The broadband bill, known as the Low-Income Telecommunications Assistance Program (LITAP), passed through the formal legislative session in high-speed fashion. It was first introduced at the end of January, passed by the House, and then the Senate by a 38-0 margin last Thursday (Feb. 12), making its way to the governor’s desk to be signed into law today. That’s a 25-day marathon from legislative start-to-finish.

The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa (also referred to as Ojibwe) has officially begun construction on a foundational fiber optic broadband expansion project in northern Minnesota that is poised to bridge the digital divide for thousands of Tribal residents.

The ambitious undertaking is supported by a significant $20 million grant awarded under the 2021 Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, marking a major step forward in modernizing infrastructure for the sovereign nation.

The massive project aims to overhaul the existing connectivity landscape across the Bois Forte Reservation.

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Once completed, the new network will deliver a high-speed, future-proof up to 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) fiber-to-the-home network to over 2,097 largely-underserved Native American households, businesses, and community anchor institutions.

Many Tribal nations were skipped over by past fiber deployments either due to outright hostility to Tribal interests, or a disinterest in the work required to align for-profit deployments with the needs and wishes of what is often multiple Tribal territories.

For Bois Forte, this new fiber network is expected to have a transformative impact across several key sectors, fundamentally improving community access to vital services:

Lehi, Utah and its partner Strata Networks say they’ve completed construction of Lehi Fiber, the city-owned, open access fiber network that’s dramatically reshaped broadband affordability and competition in the city of 80,000.

When last we checked in with the folks in Lehi back in 2022, they had just broken ground on the new network after a feasibility study by Magellan found widespread local frustration with the lack of affordable local next-generation broadband access.

Three years later, the city says they’ve completed construction of the network, which is owned by the city but managed by Strata.

Lehi Fiber Administrative Services Manager Shaye Ruitenbeek tells ILSR that they’re pleased by the community response so far.

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Residents Now Have Choice of Five ISPs

“The Lehi Fiber Network has now passed approximately 23,000 locations, and we will continue expanding as the city grows,” Ruitenbeek said. “Currently, the network supports about 6,400 subscriptions, which represents an approximate 28 percent take rate.”

California’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently signed off on Verizon’s $20 billion merger with telecom giant Frontier with some notable conditions. As part of Verizon’s settlement with the CPUC, they’re being required to offer affordable broadband, improve network resilience, and expand fiber and cellular access into long-neglected portions of the Golden State.

According to the CPUC approval announcement, the agency voted 5-0 to approve the merger after months of deliberation and negotiation with Verizon.

One cornerstone of the CPUC’s agreement is that Verizon will be required to offer significant support for its "Verizon Forward" service, which offers home Internet access for as low as $20 a month (either 300 megabit per second (Mbps) symmetrical fiber or 100/20 Mbps wireless) to California homes that qualify for existing low-income assistance programs.
 
Under that part of the arrangement, Verizon pledges to maintain that $20 per month price point for the next decade.

Verizon’s Frontier Deal Comes With Strings Attached

This comes on the heels of a recent CPUC study that found “the average monthly price for a plan at or above 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 20 Mbps upload – the Federal Communications Commission’s benchmark for broadband speeds – is $116.68” – “far above what many households can afford.” The study further indicates that in large swaths of the state “low-income households spend more than 15% of their discretionary income on broadband service.”

Elon Musk’s Starlink is making new demands of states with an eye on eroding accountability and oversight, reheating concerns about whether spending big money on the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network is the best possible use of taxpayer resources.

Last year, the Trump administration made revisions to NTIA rules surrounding the $42.5 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, And Deployment (BEAD) program, demanding that states de-prioritize fiber and dole out significantly more money to LEO satellite providers – a move broadly seen as a personal gift to one of the President’s biggest financial donors.

This subsidy reward, slated to be at least $733 million to start, is money that in some cases is being redirected away from higher-capacity, more affordable local options like open access community-owned fiber networks.

The NTIA changes introduced significant new delays in a program already rife with them. The Trump administration’s threat to withhold grant awards from states that focus on affordability – and the high consumer costs, environmental impact, and capacity constraints of the LEO network – risks undermining BEAD’s promise of faster, more affordable access.

Standoff Orbits 'LEO participation' 

Last week, Broadband.io and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society obtained a copy of a letter Starlink parent company SpaceX sent to individual states, demanding freedom from state oversight and monitoring should they bungle installs or fail to deliver acceptable bandwidth.

Despite a memo issued by the NTIA last summer that sought to discourage states from passing affordable broadband legislation similar to New York State’s Affordable Broadband Act, two dozen state lawmakers in Maryland have signed on to the Broadband Opportunity and Fairness Act, state legislation that seeks to address the single biggest barrier to Internet access anywhere: affordability.

HB-382, if passed, would require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating in Maryland to offer low-cost Internet service plans to eligible low-income households.

Introduced by Delegate Kris Fair (D-3A, Frederick Co.), the bill now has 25 co-sponsors and is slated for a Feb. 12 legislative hearing before the House Economic Matters Committee. Companion legislation has yet to be filed in the Senate, though Delegate Fair’s office says they are in discussions with state Senators about advancing a bill through that chamber as well.

Stepping Up and 'Doing Something'

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a dramatic expansion of the state’s Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP), resulting in an additional $36 million cash infusion for the growing number of creative, community-owned and operated fiber expansion projects in the state.

According to a state announcement, the existing MIP program, launched in early 2024, has already funded more than $268 million in assorted open access fiber projects across the state. A state broadband office dashboard tracks all active municipal projects funded to date.

That includes efforts like the growing open access municipal fiber network in Dryden, New York, which has been steadily delivering affordable next-gen fiber to the long-underserved rural communities of Dryden and nearby Caroline (population 3,321).

New York State officials say the $268 million in MIP grant funding has funded active projects across 24 New York counties, resulting in more than 2,300 miles of new fiber optic infrastructure and 68 new wireless hubs serving more than 96,000 homes and businesses. Most of this funding was made possible by the 2021 federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

The MIP program is part of New York state’s billion dollar ConnectALL Initiative, and was specifically designed to support municipal broadband projects proven to be a viable, and increasingly popular, way to bring affordable, high-quality Internet service to long-neglected U.S. communities.