FACT SHEET: Broadband That Works: Promoting Competition & Local Choice In Next-Generation Connectivity

Last November, the President outlined his plan to keep the Internet open to new competition and innovation by safeguarding net neutrality — which will help ensure no one company can act as a gatekeeper to digital content. But there is more work to do so that every American has access to a free and open internet. This is particularly true in areas where broadband competition is lacking, resulting in high prices and slow service.

Building on his net neutrality plan, tomorrow in Cedar Falls, Iowa President Obama will announce steps he will discuss in the State of the Union to help more Americans, in more communities around the country, get access to fast and affordable broadband. Communities like Cedar Falls have banded together to commit to broadband that works by bringing in new competition, leveraging municipal investments, and forming new partnerships to bring world-class Internet to places like this small Iowa town. 

High-speed, low-cost broadband is paving the way for economic revitalization not just in Cedar Falls, but in places like Chattanooga, TN, Kansas City, MO, and Lafayette, LA — all of which have Internet speeds nearly 100 times faster than the national average and deliver it at an affordable price. To help more communities achieve these results, support economic growth, and promote a level playing field for all competitors, the Obama Administration is:

• Calling to End Laws that Harm Broadband Service Competition: Laws in 19 states — some specifically written by special interests trying to stifle new competitors — have held back broadband access and, with it, economic opportunity. Today, President Obama is announcing a new effort to support local choice in broadband, formally opposing measures that limit the range of options available to communities to spur expanded local broadband infrastructure, including ownership of networks. As a first step, the Administration is filing a letter with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging it to join this effort by addressing barriers inhibiting local communities from responding to the broadband needs of their citizens. 
• Expanding the National Movement of Local Leaders for Better Broadband: As of today, 50 cities representing over 20 million Americans have joined the Next Century Cities coalition, a nonpartisan network pledging to bring fast, community-supported broadband to their towns and cities. They join 37 research universities around the country that formed the Gig.U partnership to bring fast broadband to communities around their campuses. To recognize these remarkable individuals and the partnerships they have built, in June 2015 the White House will host a Community Broadband Summit of mayors and county commissioners from around the nation who are joining this movement for broadband solutions and economic revitalization. These efforts will also build on the US Ignite partnership, launched by White House in 2012, and which has grown to include more than 65 research universities and 35 cities in developing new next-generation gigabit applications.
• Announcing a New Initiative to Support Community Broadband Projects: To advance this important work, the Department of Commerce is launching a new initiative, BroadbandUSA, to promote broadband deployment and adoption. Building on expertise gained from overseeing the $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program funded through the Recovery Act, BroadbandUSA will offer online and in-person technical assistance to communities; host a series of regional workshops around the country; and publish guides and tools that provide communities with proven solutions to address problems in broadband infrastructure planning, financing, construction, and operations across many types of business models.
• Unveiling New Grant and Loan Opportunities for Rural Providers: The Department of Agriculture is accepting applications to its Community Connect broadband grant program and will reopen a revamped broadband loan program, which offers financing to eligible rural carriers that invest in bringing high-speed broadband to unserved and under served rural areas.
• Removing Regulatory Barriers and Improving Investment Incentives: The President is calling for the Federal Government to remove all unnecessary regulatory and policy barriers to broadband build-out and competition, and is establishing a new Broadband Opportunity Council of over a dozen government agencies with the singular goal of speeding up broadband deployment and promoting adoption for our citizens. The Council will also solicit public comment on unnecessary regulatory barriers and opportunities to promote greater coordination with the aim of addressing those within its scope.

Background: A National Need, And Solutions That Are Working

Today, too few Americans have affordable and competitive broadband choices, but some communities around the country are choosing to change that dynamic. As a result – as outlined in a new report being issued today – cities like Lafayette, Chattanooga, and Kansas City, have broadband that is nearly one hundred times faster than the national average, yet still available at a competitive price. By welcoming new competition or building next-generation networks, these communities are pioneers in broadband that works, and tomorrow in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the President is highlighting their remarkable success stories and providing municipal leadership and entrepreneurs new tools to help replicate this success across the nation. 

Americans in even our busiest cities often find only one or two providers offering broadband service, and often none providing them with fast, fiber-optic connections — despite the fact that many of cities are already equipped with fast fiber-optic broadband. At the same time, in too many places, residents do not have access to broadband in their home, or their speeds continue to lag while their monthly bills continue to grow.

Both of these challenges are driven by the lack of broadband choice in many American markets. In fact, three out of four Americans have no competition or no service at speeds increasingly required for many online services. Rarely is the problem a lack of demand — too often, it is the capital costs of building out broadband infrastructure and a combination of laws that prevent communities from providing incentives to attract providers. Competitive markets translate to lower monthly prices, better products, and better customer service. In cities across the country, new competitors entering markets have provided consumers with new and often faster alternatives, spurring investment from incumbents and providing consumers with more choice.

Many of the communities that have taken aggressive steps to improve their broadband have residential and business Internet speeds among the fastest in the world — faster, even, than in San Francisco, New York City, or Los Angeles: 

What sets these top-performing cities apart is that they have all taken dramatic steps to bring in more competitors, and enter into new partnerships to deliver top-quality broadband. Some specific examples of how creative thinking and partnerships are delivering faster, better broadband across the country include:

Chattanooga, TN — After investing in a visionary 1 gigabit per second broadband network, the City of Chattanooga is transforming itself into a regional center for technology and innovation. Today, Chattanooga is attracting entrepreneurs and computer programmers from around the country and boasts new business incubators and state-of-the-art public facilities. Investors have responded in kind. Since 2009, Chattanooga has gone from hosting close to zero venture capital to at least five organized funds with investable capital of over $50 million.

Wilson, NC — Through inspired leadership and the community mobilization, Wilson has been transformed from “the ‘World’s Greatest Tobacco Market’ to ‘North Carolina’s First Gigabit City,’ delivering speeds up to 100 times the national average, at a price North Carolinians can afford.  Unanimously approved by the city council, Mayor Bruce Rose believes this infrastructure “is absolutely essential to improve the economy and quality of life.”

Kansas City, MO — Kansas City was the first city to successfully compete for Google Fiber, the search giant’s entry into broadband service to homes and businesses, and today is being nationally recognized for attracting new start-ups, retaining existing business, and providing better municipal services and education as a result of this new and affordable broadband.

The new report released today by the National Economic Council and Council of Economic Advisers examines these remarkable stories in greater depth. 

Remarks by the President at the National Cybersecurity Communications Integration Center

National Cybersecurity Communications Integration Center
Arlington, Virginia

3:10 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody.  I want to thank Secretary Johnson, Deputy Secretary Mayorkas, and the dedicated public servants of the Department of Homeland Security for welcoming me here today.  I’ve kind of taken over your work space.  I apologize for that, but just pretend that I’m not here. (Laughter.)  I want you to keep working.  I did ask who dressed up for this event, and apparently, a few were brave enough to admit it.

But in advance of my State of the Union address next week, I’ve been rolling out my proposals for keeping our economy on track, keeping it growing, making sure we're creating jobs and opportunity for the American people.  And that includes the extraordinary opportunities that exist in our digital economy.

Yesterday, I announced new proposals to better protect Americans from identity theft and to ensure our privacy, including making sure that our kids are safe from digital marketing and intrusions on their privacy based on what they’re doing at school.  Tomorrow in Iowa, I’ll talk about how we can give more families and communities faster, cheaper access to the broadband that allows them to successfully compete in this global economy.  And on Thursday, the Vice President will be in Norfolk to highlight the need to continue to invest in the education and skills for our cybersecurity professionals.  But today I am here at DHS to highlight how we can work with the private sector to better protect American companies against cyber threats. 

Shortly after I took office, I declared that cyber threats pose an enormous challenge for our country.  It's one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation.  Foreign governments, criminals and hackers probe America’s computer networks every single day.  We saw that again with the attack at Sony, which actually destroyed data and computer hardware that is going to be very costly for that company to clean up.  Just yesterday, we saw the hack of a military Twitter account and You Tube channel.  No military operations were impacted.  So far, it appears that no classified information was released.  But the investigation is ongoing, and it’s a reminder that cyber threats are an urgent and growing danger.

Moreover, much of our critical infrastructure -- our financial systems, power grids, pipelines, health care systems --run on networks connected to the Internet.  So this is a matter of public safety and of public health.  And most of this infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector.  So neither government, nor the private sector can defend the nation alone.  It’s going to have to be a shared mission -- government and industry working hand in hand, as partners.

And that’s why I’ve said that protecting our digital infrastructure is a national security priority and a national economic priority.  Over the past six years, we’ve pursued a comprehensive strategy, boosting our defenses in government, sharing more information with the private sector to help them defend themselves, working with industry through what we call the Cybersecurity Framework not just to respond to threats and recover from attacks but to prevent and disrupt them in the first place.  

And that’s where these good folks come in.  We are currently at the National Cybersecurity Communications Integration Center  -- also known as NCCIC.  I just got a tour and a briefing.  I want to thank everybody here, not just from DHS but from across government and the private sector, because, again, this is a shared responsibility. 

This center is one of the critical lines of America’s cyber defenses.  These men and women work around the clock, 24/7, monitoring threats, issuing warnings, sharing information with the private sector, and keeping Americans safe.  So, as a nation, we owe them thanks, and as a nation, we are making progress.  We’re more prepared to defend against cyber attacks.  But every day, our adversaries are getting more sophisticated and more determined, and more plentiful.  So every day, we’ve got to keep upping our game at the same time.  We’ve got to stay ahead of those who are trying to do us harm.

The problem is that government and the private sector are still not always working as closely together as we should.  Sometimes it’s still too hard for government to share threat information with companies.  Sometimes it’s still too hard for companies to share information about cyber threats with the government.  There are legal issues involved and liability issues.  Sometimes, companies are reluctant to reveal their vulnerabilities or admit publicly that they have been hacked.  At the same time, the American people have a legitimate interest in making sure that government is not potentially abusing information that it's received from the private sector. 

So all of us -- government and industry -- are going to have to keep doing better.  The new legislation and proposals I put forward yesterday will help, especially for a strong, single national standard for notifying Americans when their information has been breached.  Today, I want to announce some additional steps.

First, we’re proposing new cybersecurity legislation to promote the greater information sharing we need between government and the private sector.  This builds and improves upon legislation that we’ve put forward in the past.  It reflects years of extensive discussions with industry.  It includes liability protections for companies that share information on cyber threats.  It includes essential safeguards to ensure that government protects privacy and civil liberties even as we're doing our job of safeguarding America’s critical information networks. 

I raised this issue again and the need for this legislation with congressional leaders this morning, including Speaker Boehner and Leader McConnell, and we all agree that this is a threat that has to be addressed, and I am confident that we should be able to craft bipartisan legislation soon to put these systems in place.  We’re going to keep on working with Congress to get this done.  And in the meantime, we’re going to do everything we can with our existing authorities to make sure industry gets the information it needs to better defend itself.

Second, we’re proposing to update the authorities that law enforcement uses to go after cyber criminals.  We want to be able to better prosecute those who are involved in cyber attacks, those who are involved in the sale of cyber weapons like botnets and spyware.  We want to ensure that we’re able to prosecute insiders who steal corporate secrets or individuals’ private information.  And we want to expand the authority of courts to shut down botnets and other malware.  The bottom line, we want cyber criminals to feel the full force of American justice, because they are doing as much damage, if not more, these days as folks who are involved in more conventional crime.

Finally, and since this is a challenge that we can only meet together, I’m announcing that next month we’ll convene a White House summit on cybersecurity and consumer protection.  It’s a White House summit where we're not going to do it at the White House; we're going to go to Stanford University.  And it’s going to bring everybody together -- industry, tech companies, law enforcement, consumer and privacy advocates, law professors who are specialists in the field, as well as students -- to make sure that we work through these issues in a public, transparent fashion.   

Because they’re hard and they’re complicated issues.  But if we keep on working on them together, and focus on concrete and pragmatic steps that we can take to boost our cybersecurity and our privacy, I'm confident that both our privacy will be more secure and our information, our networks, public health, public safety will be more secure.  We’re going to keep on at this as a government, but we're also going to be working with the private sector to detect, prevent, defend, deter against attacks, and to recover quickly from any disruptions or damage.  And as long as I’m President, protecting America’s digital infrastructure is going to remain a top national security priority. 

In closing, I want to say one of the areas I’ll be working with Congress is to ensure that we don’t let any disagreements keep us from fulfilling our most basic responsibilities.  Last week’s attack in Paris was a painful reminder that we have no greater duty than the security of the American people.  And our national security should never be subject to partisan political games.  Congress needs to fully fund our Department of Homeland Security, without delay, so that the dedicated public servants working here can operate with the certainty and confidence they need to keep the American people safe.  And that's true across the board in the Department of Homeland Security. 

So, again, I want to thank Jeh and Deputy Secretary Mayorkas, and everybody here at NCCIC and DHS for the great job you are doing.  You are helping to keep the nation safe and secure. 

And with that, we're going to get out of here so you can get back to work.  Who knows what’s been happening while you’ve been paying attention to me?  (Laughter.)  All right?  Thank you very much, everybody.  (Applause.) 

END
3:21 P.M. EST

Readout of the President’s Meeting with Members of the Congressional Leadership

 This morning, the President and the Vice President hosted the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress in the Cabinet Room. The leaders discussed a wide range of issues, and the President highlighted areas where Republicans and Democrats can work together to protect our national security and continue the progress we have seen in the economy. The President underscored there are priorities that rise above politics – including keeping Americans safe by promptly and fully funding the Department of Homeland Security without delay so the men and women working there can operate with the confidence they need, and working together to pass legislation to combat the cyber security threats we face. The President committed to working with members of both parties on text for an AUMF that Congress can pass to show the world America stands united against ISIL. The President also underscored the importance of our diplomatic efforts aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, reiterating his strong opposition to additional sanctions legislation that could derail the negotiations and isolate the United States from our international coalition. Coming off the strongest year for private-sector job growth since the 1990s, the President asked that leaders from both parties work together to build on our growth. The President looks forward to working with Congress to make progress for the middle class, and ensure every American feels like they’re part of their country’s comeback.