Technological advances are making their way into every corner of the economy and society, from remote-working and distance-learning to software and hardware that streamlines and improves business processes.

One result is that there has been a revolution of rising expectations: Everyone now expects connectivity, as a fundamental service, just as they expect tap water to come pouring through when they turn on the tap. Then President-elect Joe Biden said it on December 22: “How could it be in America that parents must drive to a parking lot of a coffee shop or a library for wifi ... so their children can sit in their car, participate in class and do their homework? ... That’s unacceptable in the United States.”

Just a little more than one month later, on January 26, Gina Raimondo told the U.S. Senate that digital infrastructure is “not a luxury good. Everyone deserves access to broadband.” During that day, the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and