The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included $42 billion in funding to build out internet infrastructure.
CWA members have worked hard to ensure those funds will be used to build reliable, high-speed fiber and create good, union telecom jobs. Because of that work, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has prioritized investment in fiber.
But now the future of that funding is in jeopardy. Satellite company CEOs are pushing to funnel more of the money intended for fiber buildout to unreliable satellite internet service.1 Satellite employs fewer workers–and there are currently no union-represented satellite internet providers.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz has called for broader use of “alternative technologies” to fiber,2 and senior Trump Administration officials have testified against “preferring fiber builds.”3 They are proposing major changes to the broadband internet buildout program that would slow it down and result in worse service, especially in rural areas.
Sign our petition to tell the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and leaders in California to stand up to pressure to redirect funds to unreliable satellite internet service and continue to create good, union jobs by investing in reliable, high-speed fiber internet.
Sign here: action.cwa.org/petitions/we-need-reliable-internet-service-and-good-jobs
Thank you!
Beth
1 Newsweek, “Satellite May Sound Like the Future, But it Could Stick Broadband Users in the Past.”
2 Letter from Senator Ted Cruz, et al to Assistant Secretary of Commerce Alan Davidson.
