- Bernie Sanders announces a plan to expand rural broadband internet access and break up giant internet service providers.
- The senator and 2020 presidential candidate’s campaign criticizes companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.
- Several of Sanders’ competitors such as Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg have also released plans to boost access to broadband.
Bernie Sanders unveiled a plan Friday to expand broadband internet access as part of a push to boost the economy and reduce corporate power over Americans.
In his sprawling “High-Speed Internet for All” proposal, the Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate calls to treat internet like a public utility. His campaign argues that the internet should not be a “price gouging profit machine” for companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.
Sanders’ plan would create $150 billion in grants and aid for local and state governments to build publicly owned broadband networks as part of the Green New Deal infrastructure initiative. The total would mark a massive increase over current funding for broadband development initiatives. The proposal would also break up what the campaign calls “internet service provider and cable monopolies,” stop service providers from offering content and end what it calls “anticompetitive mergers.”
www.cnbc.com/2019/12/06/bernie-sanders-releases-broadband-plan-targets-comcast-att-verizon.html