Missouri Policy Spotlight: Broadband

By: Dr. Tomy Granzier-Nakajima

Broadband internet is typically defined as internet with at least 25 mbps download speed and 3 mbps upload speed. Reliable broadband internet offers many benefits, including access to telemedicine, online schooling, and remote work. It is also associated with increased employment levels, agricultural output, housing values, and business formation

For more information, see our Science Note on the impacts of broadband internet.

In Missouri, at least 15% of households lack access to broadband internet. This is likely an underestimate due to current methods for broadband mapping by the FCC.

Research Highlight: Rural and low-income households are less likely than urban or high-income households to have broadband access.

While a household may have access to broadband internet, this does not guarantee that household will have a broadband subscription. This can be due to financial reasons or a lack of digital literacy. As a result, broadband adoption is even lower than broadband access.

Recent broadband-related policy changes in Missouri

In 2022, Governor Mike Parson called for a $400 million investment in broadband expansion projects statewide, aiming to connect 75,000 new households. The general assembly appropriated $285 million of this request, choosing not to fund the affordability and digital literacy programs in the Governor’s request.

For a more in-depth discussion of 2022 broadband appropriations, see this Broadband Resource Rail post.

This summer, Governor Parson signed an omnibus utilities bill (SB 820), which included several broadband provisions.

• Defining broadband speeds for underserved areas. Broadband speeds were previously defined as 25 mbps download speed and 3 mbps upload speed. This legislation defines “underserved areas” as places with less than 100 mbps download speed and 20 mbps upload speed. The updated definition aligns with needs for modern internet use cases such as multiple users in a household video conferencing for work or school, streaming videos, or playing video games, and allows households to keep up as more devices become connected to the internet such as thermostats, phones, televisions, security cameras, and video doorbells.
• Public-private partnerships. The bill also aids the establishment of wireless telecommunication towers by explicitly allowing political subdivisions to do so and allowing them to engage in public-private partnerships (see Science Note).
• Broadband mapping. SB 820 also improves address level broadband mapping by updating requirements for the broadband grant program to address deficiencies in current FCC maps (see Science Note).

Several other bills were introduced during the 2022 session which would have explicitly allowed electrical corporations to lease their unused fiber capacity. This is an additional opportunity to expand broadband access using existing infrastructure. While none of these bills passed in this legislative session, they may appear again in the 2023 session.

MOST Policy Initiative has published many Science Notes related to broadband internet in the past two years. Search our full database on our website here.