Broadband Expansion
Creating a High-Speed Internet Infrastructure in the United States
The cornerstone of the Communications Act of 1934, the law that established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), was the principle of universal service — “to make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States a rapid, efficient, nationwide, and worldwide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges.” Subsequent policies helped to make telephone service ubiquitous, even in remote rural areas. Today, high-speed Internet is recognized as the essential communications technology — and one of the major infrastructure challenges — of the twenty-first century. Supported primarily by private-sector investment, broadband technology has…
