House Approves Funds For Broadband Expansion

David Obey of House AppropriationsIn hopes of boosting broadband access, the House Appropriations Committee approved awarding $6 billion to build out networks in rural America.

"For every dollar invested in broadband, the economy sees a 10-fold return on that investment," the committee said in a statement about the measure, which is part of an $825 billion stimulus package to be voted on by Congress.

Broadband access advocates largely cheered the news, but also urged lawmakers to attach strings aimed at ensuring the new networks are speedy, affordable and adhere to net neutrality principles.

"Let's make sure the details are right," said Ben Scott, policy director at Free Press. "You want to spend money on networks that aren't obsolete by the time you build them."

Free Press also sent letters to David Obey (D-Wisc.) and Daniel Inouye (D-Ill.), chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, asking that lawmakers ensure that companies receiving funds do not discriminate against any publishers or applications.

"Tax dollars should not be used to fund closed, proprietary networks that shut out content providers, control consumer behavior, and encourage anticompetitive activity," the group wrote. "We must be clear that it is the open market of unfettered innovation, collaborative production, and consumer curiosity that has driven the success of network technologies to date."

Free Press had earlier called on Congress to allocate $44 billion to improving broadband, including $15 billion for rural broadband. The organization estimated that it would cost that amount to build networks with speeds of up to 50 Mbps in nearly all of the areas that now lack service.

The Open Internet Coalition also called on lawmakers to create high-speed networks. "Funds should be prohibited for upgrades of existing equipment," Markham Erickson, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "Priority should go to reach people who don't have access to broadband currently, and who are not covered by pre-existing build-out plans."

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