
Municipal Broadband Networks
Introduction
Nine out of ten Americans describe high-speed internet service as either essential or important.1 Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, during which internet connections served as a primary means of connecting to a socially-distanced world, internet access was considered critical for individual, social, and economic advancement.2 More than fifteen years ago, President George W. Bush announced a goal of “universal, affordable access for broadband technology” by 2007.3 However, as of year-end 2018, while 94.4 percent of Americans overall had access to 25/3 Mbps broadband, 22.3 percent of rural Americans did not.4
Tim O'Shea
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. 2022; George Mason University, B.A. 2019, Government and International Politics