The Biden administration’s multitrillion-dollar infrastructure proposal includes $100 billion to bring high-speed broadband to every American, an idea that might be expected to win applause from those who provide the service. But cable companies such as Comcast Corp. and Charter Communications Inc. that connect about two-thirds of U.S. homes that have broadband service fear the plan’s specific call for “future-proof” technology could leave them facing subsidized competitors.

That’s because the traditional coaxial lines that cable companies still use to serve most of their subscribers don’t handle the upload speeds that consumer advocates say should be required to receive federal infrastructure aid. Many say subsidies should go only to systems that can download and upload traffic at speeds of at least 100 megabits per second. Cable can download at that speed but averaged only 11 megabits per second for uploads in 2019, according to a January report by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Carriers using fiber lines averaged 193.

At issue are potentially billions of dollars earmarked for closing the technology gaps revealed by the pandemic, where remote work and schooling were hampered by patchy internet speeds and access. Proposals to require lofty minimum speeds have already sparked a lively debate in Congress where investing in broadband is otherwise one of the less controversial elements of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan.

Congress will ultimately decide whether to tie aid to the higher speeds. Four U.S. senators, including two Republicans, an independent and Democrat Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, earlier this year wrote to Biden administration officials in support of a 100/100 standard.

The 100/100 mandate could spur cable providers to offer higher speeds, said Gigi Sohn, a former Democratic FCC aide who’s now a distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy. “It incentivizes them to up their game,” Sohn said in an interview. “You’re seeing that with Charter, Comcast and Altice — the three biggest cable operators.”

More at Bloomberg.