Federal broadband funding’s long journey

Key Takeaways

Over the last decade, federal broadband policy has shifted from incremental support for deployment to a full-scale push to close the nation’s digital divide. From the American Rescue Plan Act to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, Congress and federal agencies have directed unprecedented resources toward rural and unserved and underserved communities. 

As projects move into construction and early networks start coming online, county leaders face a new phase of the work: Ensuring that funded builds are completed as promised and network reliability keeps pace with a fast-approaching AI-driven economy. 

Historic federal infusion 

At the start of this decade, “once in a generation” federal investments in rural broadband expanded significantly, with a clear objective: Close the digital divide by financing last-mile infrastructure and related community needs. Counties became central actors — often coordinating with peer counties, state counterparts, regional partners and internet service providers to translate flexible federal dollars into buildable projects. The results have been broadband connectivity projects that are locally coordinated and have increased resident buy-in. 

Mapping and accountability

Congress pushed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch a national broadband mapping effort intended to pinpoint which homes and businesses lack high-speed service. 

The FCC was tasked with improving the accuracy of provider-reported coverage — by moving from a census block reporting model to a location-by-location model — increasing visibility into claimed covered areas and directing federal funds to unserved areas. Counties championed a process that permitted robust challenges to agency and provider claims to ensure residents had true access to claimed coverage. 

Visible but uneven progress 

As funding moves from planning to deployment, counties are beginning to see projects advance from grant awards to “shovel in the ground.” Some networks backed by earlier-in-the-decade investments are starting to come online. Even so, county officials say a central question persists: Will unserved pockets re-emerge as programs and technologies change? The question leaves a further, more immediate uncertainty in the air: How will our built networks manage the shift in demand for services that AI will bring to our economy? 

When programs strand communities 

With all of the successful federal funding streams that have emerged for broadband across the last decade, county leaders often point to one as offering an opportunity for a lesson learned: The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). In too many areas, providers that committed to build under the RDOF program as far back as 2019 later defaulted on their bids, due to elevating material costs or lack of continued incentive to serve the awarded area. The result, counties say, was worse than delay: Some communities became ineligible for other funding streams because they were counted as future RDOF builds — even when that future connectivity never materialized. 

Not a one-time project 

The experience of the last decade is reinforcing a long-standing reality in telecommunications: Building and maintaining networks is an ongoing public need, not a single one-time construction effort. Much of the nation’s 20th-century telecom backbone was built under a monopoly model before the industry’s breakup in the 1980s and the rise of regional competition in the 1990s. Then the internet reshaped the entire ecosystem, turning “telecom infrastructure” into a sophisticated blend of systems that collectively deliver modern connectivity. 

That complexity collides with economics. Internet service providers can typically achieve higher returns in urban and suburban markets than in rural areas, where fewer customers must support more miles of infrastructure. Federal policy has long tried to bridge that gap. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the FCC is required to pursue “universal service,” including the principle that rural residents should have access to services comparable to urban residents at reasonably similar rates. 

To make that possible, the FCC uses subsidies — including the Universal Service Fund — to offset the difference between rural build costs and what can be recovered through consumer rates alone. For counties, the takeaway is practical: Even as one-time grant programs expand infrastructure, long-term viability often depends on sustainable operating models and complementary federal support tools. 

Affordability remains part of ‘access’ 

Availability is only one part of connectivity. Since 1996, the Lifeline program has aimed to make communications services affordable for eligible households — first for telephone service and later including broadband. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the temporary Affordable Connectivity Program received an uptake rate of nearly 23 million households — a sign that relief in monthly internet service bills was in high demand when remote connectivity was essential for public health. 

By offering affordable connectivity options to connectivity, more residents can connect to government services, education, telehealth and the modern economy. County officials say that without affordability options, new networks can still leave residents effectively disconnected. 

Resilient networks for an AI-era economy 

Counties are weighing broadband as foundational infrastructure for the next wave of economic and civic life. As artificial intelligence and advanced digital services reshape workplaces and labor markets, communities will need new education pathways, digital literacy and reskilling opportunities — none of which scale without reliable connectivity. Leaders also increasingly frame telecommunications resilience as essential infrastructure, comparable to water, power and roads, with public-private partnerships and security considerations becoming part of routine planning. 

What counties can do now 

Congress has several levers to keep broadband progress moving, including direct grants and loans for deployment, support for devices and connectivity for distance learning and telemedicine, and funding to strengthen or “harden” county information technology and operational technology systems. Federal policy can also continue to set standards that promote a competitive, customer-responsive broadband market — an obligation rooted in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. 

For county leaders, the message of the decade is clear: Federal dollars are finally translating into real-world builds, and we need to meet the moment. As the innovation economy moves forward, counties will continue to maximize efforts to ensure their residents are connected to high-speed broadband.