A promise to restore America’s crumbling infrastructure was a key part of President Donald Trump’s campaign speeches. He pledged to rebuild America’s roads and bridges, ports and highways, which are undoubtedly in need of repair. Less clear in his speeches – and in these early days of his administration – is what importance he gives broadband internet, an equally essential infrastructure in our 21st-century information economy. A quarter of Americans still have no broadband, and 12 percent live in places where they can get service from only one provider or none at all.
Very broadly, governments have two tools to change any particular industry: funding and regulation. Trump’s budget blueprint released on March 16 leaves no doubt that the president’s focus is on beefing up America’s defense and security capabilities.
