EXPLAINER: What the $65B broadband service plan will do

The Senate's $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan includes a $65 billion investment in broadband that the White House says will “deliver reliable, affordable, high-speed internet to every household."

It may not actually achieve that, but it's a major step in that direction. The broadband funding is a “great down payment” on the Biden administration’s far-reaching goals of connecting all Americans and making internet more affordable, said Matt Wood, a broadband policy expert at the consumer advocacy group Free Press. Critically important is $14 billion aimed at helping low-income Americans pay for service.

The “digital divide” — the persistent U.S. gap between the broadband haves and have-nots — became glaringly obvious during the pandemic as school, work and health care shifted online. Tens of millions either don't have internet access or, if they do have access to a local phone or cable company, can't afford to pay for it.

More radical industry changes laid out in the Biden administration's original $100 billion plan, like promoting alternatives to the dominant phone and cable industries and hinting at price regulation, didn't survive bipartisan negotiations over a bill that had to attract Republican support. Among the bill's big winners, in fact, are those same internet service providers.

The Senate passed the $1 trillion infrastructure bill Tuesday, 69-30, with support from both Democrats and Republicans. The House is expected to consider it in September.

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The Federal Communications Commission says about 14 million Americans don’t have access to broadband at the speeds necessary to work and study online — 25 megabits per second downloads and 3 mbps uploads — but acknowledges that its maps are faulty. Outside groups have made higher...