Broadband

High-speed internet access has become a pillar of our 21st-century economy. It’s a prerequisite for economic growth in America, yet some communities in northeast Georgia and other parts of the country lack meaningful access to broadband services because their infrastructure is under-developed.

To date, government efforts to support broadband expansion have seen limited success, and grant programs intended to fuel broadband expansion in rural areas have been routinely awarded to service providers that fail to make necessary investments in infrastructure.

We must ensure that our communities have the tools necessary for sustainable economic growth, and that includes high-speed internet access. To that end, I introduced the Gigabit Opportunity (GO) Act to incentivize firms to expand broadband infrastructure to communities that lack high-speed access. By streamlining the process of building up broadband infrastructure, the GO Act would encourage more companies to enter low-income rural and urban communities, replacing de-facto monopolies with meaningful competition.

As long as some internet providers accept federal dollars yet underserve their areas, Congress should exercise oversight. I continue to hold carriers accountable and work to expand broadband access at local and federal levels.