By LaKeshia N. Myers
Representative LaKeshia Myers
Wisconsin’s students – from my hometown in Milwaukee to rural Northern Wisconsin – rely on fast, quality broadband internet to succeed. The internet is a portal that allows students to engage with the world around them. Students are exposed to new ideas, and are able to broaden their horizons, while sharing their perspectives with the world. As a former educator with the Milwaukee Public School system and the current Representative for District 12 in Milwaukee, I am dedicated to supporting our students in their efforts to get connected.
I am grateful that the Biden administration recognizes the importance of continuing to invest in broadband. Thanks to President Biden’s leadership, Congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021, which included $65 billion in funding to close the digital divide. Wisconsin is set to receive a much-needed $1 billion in funding to expand broadband services to all remaining unserved and underserved locations in the state. This funding has the chance to create transformational change for so many Wisconsinites, helping support our students and grow our economy.
Unfortunately, the promise of broadband expansion here in Wisconsin is being undermined by bureaucrats in Washington. While our elected officials like President Biden and Senator Baldwin are working to improve our broadband options, regulators at the Department of Commerce, the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have engaged in a pattern of aggressive regulation that risks undermining the President’s good work. Taken together, these regulations could drive experienced providers out of our communities, curtail innovation, and slow internet speeds.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen a pattern of overregulation emerge from Washington. While this pattern extends across agencies, I am particularly concerned with rules the NTIA is pushing states to adopt for the Broadband Equity and Deployment (BEAD) program. BEAD is intended to bring broadband to communities that have been waiting for years, but the NTIA’s guidelines could deter participation from experienced providers. If experienced providers decline to bid on broadband buildouts, it will open the door for the program to be taken advantage of by private equity firms with a long track record of unscrupulous behavior.
We’ve seen the impact of private equity firms on countless industries over the last decade, from increasing the affordable housing crisis to shuttering newsrooms around the country. These companies are driven only by short-term financial gains. They are not based in our communities, and do not care about the long-term success or failure of these projects. These firms are now betting big on broadband, and we have reason to be concerned. In the past, private equity investments in broadband have left families on the hook for millions, and with nothing to show for it. A few years ago, Kentucky taxpayers were left with a $1.2 billion bill after federal funding fell through and private equity firm Macquairie Capital over-promised and underdelivered on rural broadband expansion. Our students cannot afford for us to make the same mistakes here in Wisconsin.
Quality broadband is important to all Wisconsinites, from urban communities like mine to rural areas of our state who are still waiting for broadband. We are on track to make significant improvements in broadband access and affordability – but that progress is being put at risk by unelected bureaucrats in Washington. I hope these regulators will reconsider their overly-prescriptive approach and put families and students first.