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ARPA is funding cheap community-owned gigabit fiber to neglected neighborhoods

The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) continues to quietly help fund a number of extremely popular community-owned, open access fiber deployments that are challenging entrenched U.S. monopoly po…

That’s not great news for regional New York State monopolies Charter and Verizon, who’ve grown fat and comfortable charging much higher prices for much slower access. The lack of real competition between the two giants for decades has resulted in high prices, slow speeds, spotty coverage, inconsistent upgrades, repair delays, and substandard customer service. But some states (most notably Vermont, Maine, California, and New York) are trying a different tack: they’re investing heavily in community-owned open access infrastructure, and treating broadband more like an essential utility (where maximizing shareholder profits isn’t the top priority).

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