COVID-19 Was Best Broadband Evangelist, Says Levin

"We're all kind of progressives on broadband now,” said Brookings senior fellow Blair Levin at the think tank’s livestreamed event Thursday. Levin said COVID-19 did more to persuade policymakers about high-speed internet’s importance than the national broadband plan he oversaw while at the FCC. Now Democratic and Republican governors alike are aggressive about expanding service, he said. Inflation and workforce issues mean the government may not connect as many people as it could have when the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was made law, said Levin: From an economic perspective, it may end up looking like the government wasted two years waiting for the FCC’s map.