Congress made a bipartisan promise a year ago: Every home and business in America would have access to high-speed internet.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act put $42.5 billion into the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program on a simple premise: In a world where work, education and health care increasingly happen online, broadband is infrastructure, not a luxury.
But infrastructure is never built on an election calendar. What is authorized under one administration or celebrated in a news release may take years — even decades — to plan and complete. That is why infrastructure must be viewed as something larger than any single moment or political personality.
The interstate highway system offers a familiar example. Conceived under President Dwight Eisenhower, it was built across changing administrations and priorities, becoming the backbone of American commerce and daily life. Its success depended on sustained commitment over time.
Broadband belongs in that category.
Recent reporting by Spotlight PA details how the federal broadband initiative has been reshaped over the past year, altering funding rules, technology priorities and related programs.
Every administration sets priorities. That is not unusual, and it is not inherently wrong. It is the cost of doing political business.
But when long-term infrastructure is involved, the public needs stability and deserves clarity about what is changing and why.
The shift raises a basic question: Are we building broadband for speed today or durability for decades?
Early plans emphasized fiber networks designed to grow with demand. More recent guidance has broadened the focus to include technologies that can be deployed more quickly and cheaply, particularly in hard-to-reach areas. The tradeoff is not merely technical. It determines whether rural communities receive service that can keep pace over time.
Pennsylvania’s broadband plan reflects that tension. Most eligible locations are slated for fiber connectivity, while a significant share will rely on satellite or wireless service. That may be reasonable. But residents deserve transparency about what kind of service they will receive, at what speeds and at what cost.
Affordability and usability matter, too. A connection households cannot afford or effectively use is no connection at all.
Pennsylvania has no shortage of reminders of what happens when infrastructure is built without sustained attention — including aging interstates first envisioned under Eisenhower.
Broadband may be invisible, but it is just as essential. If it is to serve the public for generations, it must be built — and overseen — with the same long-term accountability that Americans expect of the infrastructure they rely on every day.
