Both maps illustrate just what a patchwork broadband access remains in the United States, with well-connected areas right next to disconnected areas. Overall, more than 30 percent of rural America still lacks access to what the Federal Communications Commission considers adequate broadband. That’s a stark contrast from urban areas, where only 2.1 percent lack this connectivity.
Rural Indian reservations have lower rates of coverage than anywhere else in the nation. About 35 percent of Americans living in tribal lands lack broadband access, according to the most recent report by the Federal Communications Commission. In Idaho, the FCC estimates that 83 percent of the tribal population lacks broadband, making the Nez Perce tribe among the least-connected groups in the country.
Documents disclosed in late January suggest that, in order to move his nomination forward, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) head David Redl promised Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) that he would assemble a “panel of experts to investigate options for unwinding” the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition.
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