Biden touts millions in funding for internet access on NC trip. How state will benefit

President Joe Biden’s visit to Raleigh on Thursday came with an announcement that the White House says will benefit 16,000 households and businesses and bring hundreds of jobs to the state.

“Over the next three years over 300,000 homes and businesses all across North Carolina will be connected with affordable high-speed internet,” Biden told an audience at Raleigh’s Abbotts Creek Community Center. “And today I’m announcing another major step. We’re investing another $82 million to connect 16,000 additional homes and businesses, bringing high-speed internet all across the state of North Carolina.”

The funding comes from the pandemic relief law known as the American Rescue Plan, which Biden championed and which passed Congress in 2021.

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton said the money being announced will pay for fiber-optic cable, and said work is already underway to lay the fiber, so the effects should be felt quickly.

Early in his term, Biden put into motion steps to close the digital divide that included a $100 billion plan to bring the internet into rural communities without access and provide affordable internet to people with low incomes.

“When he entered office in the throes of the pandemic, it was very clear to everyone across the country that the internet was no longer a luxury,” Dalton said. “It was a requirement for daily life, whether you’re a student, an employee or just someone who needs to stay in touch with health care providers or other services.”

Speaking at the community center for a bit more than 20 minutes at about 2 p.m., Biden addressed the importance of internet access and other infrastructure.

“High-speed internet isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s an absolute necessity,” he said.

Gov. Roy Cooper, State Auditor Jessica Holmes and several state lawmakers joined Biden at the event.

But not everyone was excited about the president’s visit. A group demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war protested along the side of the road near where Biden spoke. And Republicans criticized the Democratic president’s performance on the economy.

“This visit is a desperate attempt to flip a 15-year low approval rating,” GOP Senate leader Phil Berger said in a news release Thursday ahead of the president’s visit.

Rural communities deal with slow internet

Dalton said Biden saw the impact of poor internet access on families as he campaigned across the country in 2020 and heard from families about driving to their local McDonald’s and sitting in the parking lot just so their children could access their online schoolwork.

“One in three North Carolinians lives in a rural area,” Dalton said, “and so there’s quite a divide that exists between communities across the state in terms of access to the internet.”

Many North Carolina families reported feeling the effects of poor-quality internet during the pandemic. The Charlotte Observer previously reported on the Lennon family in Orrum, who couldn’t get through an online class without their teacher freezing. Five different broadband internet companies told them that service wasn’t available in their community, The Observer reported.

But it’s a problem that rural North Carolina counties have been dealing with for years.

Beginning in 2015, in rural Rockingham County, former Superintendent Rodney Shotwell decided to take matters into his own hands and set up WiFi on several school and activity buses throughout the county that students in areas without internet or reliable internet could get on and do their homework.

There are 375,000 North Carolina residents who lack basic internet connectivity access, said Alan Davidson, a Biden adviser who heads the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

“That’s a major challenge, and that’s why the funding is so high,” he told The N&O in an interview Thursday ahead of Biden’s visit.

The Federal Communications Commission considers basic broadband as at least 25 Mbps downstream (meaning from the internet to the user) and 3 Mbps upstream (meaning from the user to the internet).

Fiber-optic internet expands

Dalton said at the start of Biden’s term, 24 million people did not have access to the internet and others had spotty or limited access.

Biden made a commitment at the start of his presidency that by 2030 every American would have affordable high-speed internet.

North Carolina has already received $2.9 billion to provide reliable internet, according to White House officials.

And the Affordable Connectivity Program offers eligible households at least $30 a month off their internet bills and a one-time discount of up to $100 to buy a laptop, desktop computer or tablet.

More than 22 million people have signed up for this service, with more than 880,000 in North Carolina, according to White House officials.

But the program’s funding is set to expire without action by Congress, Route Fifty reported. The FCC plans to start turning away potential applicants next month, the news outlet reported.

Davidson expects the vast majority of North Carolina residents will eventually be served by high-speed fiber-optic internet. As bandwidth demands continue to rise, Davidson called fiber-optic “the most future proof” option.

A portion of the state’s funding from the American Rescue Plan will create grants for private-sector providers to extend their fiber-optic networks, Davidson said.

And with North Carolina being what one company called the fiber-optic capital of the United States — with what Dalton said is 40% of fiber-optic cable being produced in the state — Dalton said that means hundreds of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of private-sector funding coming to North Carolina in order to fulfill the need for cable as the projects continue across the United States.

CommScope and Corning, in Catawba County, are committing a combined $550 million to build the fiber-optic cable, Dalton added.

Republican response

Berger said in a written statement that it is a fallacy that Biden’s economic policies have helped North Carolina.

“From shutting down energy independence to making trips to the grocery store unaffordable, the incoherence coming from the Oval Office has resulted in higher costs for families and businesses,” Berger said.

CNBC named North Carolina the top state for business in 2022 and 2023.

But Berger credits the Republican-led legislature with that record, with its tax cuts, “pro-business policies and state-funded infrastructure improvements.” And he said it’s a massive turnaround from when Democrats led the General Assembly and left North Carolina with a $2.5 billion deficit. Republicans have controlled the General Assembly since 2011.

He blames Biden for high inflation rates affecting gas, electricity, groceries and mortgage rates and said that while the legislature is trying to help “ease that pain, no amount of diligence from state government can fully block the financial hardships” caused by Biden.

“You’d think with all the time the Biden administration has spent in North Carolina it would learn a thing or two about real economic success,” Berger said. “That is sadly not the case, and the American people are stuck paying the tab for President Biden’s disastrous record.”

Thursday marks Biden’s seventh trip to North Carolina since taking office. He last visited Rocky Mount and Fayetteville with First Lady Jill Biden on June 9 to tout jobs and support for military families.