On July 21, Ars Technica reported a major shift in how the FCC evaluates broadband in the U.S. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has proposed eliminating long-term gigabit speed goals and scrapping affordability as a factor in broadband progress reports. If approved, this change could have serious consequences, especially for low-income communities already struggling to get online.
At Software for Progress Foundation, we believe internet access isn’t a luxury. It’s infrastructure. It’s education. It’s healthcare. It’s job access. Removing affordability and speed goals from national broadband benchmarks doesn’t just lower the bar, it turns away from the very communities who need support the most.
What’s Changing?
Carr’s proposal would:
- Eliminate the FCC’s 1Gbps/500Mbps long-term speed goal
- No longer track affordability or adoption metrics
- Focus only on whether broadband “is being deployed”, not whether it's actually reaching people
- Suggest cutting more broadband-related regulations
On paper, this might sound like streamlining. But in practice, it means a family in a rural or low-income neighborhood with no affordable options and no high-speed infrastructure might still count as “covered” in federal reports. That makes it harder to justify grants, investments, and future progress.
Why This Matters
Low-income communities face the harshest digital divides, and the greatest consequences:
- Job seekers without internet access are shut out of applications and training
- Students without reliable broadband fall behind in school
- Families without affordable plans rely on mobile hotspots and capped data, or go without entirely
By abandoning affordability as a metric, the FCC is signaling that access is enough, even if no one can afford to use it. That’s not access. That’s abandonment.
Equity Requires Standards
At Software for Progress Foundation, we support Open Source tools that help ensure equity in digital access. But we also know that software can’t fix systemic gaps if the infrastructure itself is broken, or worse, ignored by policymakers.
Affordability, speed, and adoption aren’t “extraneous.” They’re the lived reality of millions of Americans. They’re the difference between inclusion and exclusion.
What We Can Do
As a community, we can:
- Push back on policy: Submit public comments to the FCC before August 7 and share how this rollback could impact your community.
- Support digital equity work: From broadband mapping to local mesh networks, many grassroots and Open Source projects are doing the work the FCC won’t.
- Raise awareness: Share articles, speak up, and help others understand that this isn’t just a policy change, it’s a shift in priorities.
Access to the internet should be fast, fair, and affordable, for everyone. We’ll keep fighting for that future.