With substantial progress on rural and remote broadband access, the policy question now changes. The hardest places to connect are often the most dependent on digital connections: some lack all-season roads, regular air service and nearby hospitals, schools or emergency responders.
The national interest in telecommunications could be a viable, secure, and resilient infrastructure that delivers services with leading technological capabilities.
We will need to face the reality that the fundamental competition now is not primarily between the telecom carriers, but with other value systems.