Internet has never been more important in facilitating daily activities. Households with quality broadband connections can work, learn, heal, shop, and interact to an extent not thought previously possible.
The unconnected – generally older, poorer, rural, and people of color – add connectivity to their list of challenges while educators, employers, healthcare professionals, retailers, and family members struggle to maintain connections.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $23 million for three recipients in New Mexico to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas. These investments are part of USDA’s round one investments made through the ReConnect Pilot Program.
Facebook is testing a new app to expand internet access in developing countries. The app, called Discover, provides users with a balance of free browsing data provided by several mobile partners. Facebook is running the first trial in Peru, but it plans to launch in a number of other countries in the future, including Thailand, the Philippines, and Iraq. Users will receive free data from their provider each day and will get a notification when it’s available.
The parking lot of Free Pentecostal Holiness Church in the historic town of Tatums (OK) is a little busier these days. The grassy areas on either side of the small, white building now serve as the town's main Wi-Fi hot spot. People in cars parked outside the church's doors can access broadband internet, which isn't common or cheap in the town of about 160.
Cisco is partnering with the State of Arizona to expand Wi-Fi internet access to high-need communities across the state.
International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have launched an accelerated action plan to better leverage digital technologies and infrastructure in support of citizens, governments and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CenturyLink's slow broadband deployment, already a problem before the pandemic, has gotten even slower as the public health crisis causes cities and towns to halt construction. Since 2015, CenturyLink has received $505.7 million each year from the US government's Connect America Fund to deploy Internet service to nearly 1.2 million homes and businesses in 33 states. CenturyLink was required to complete 80 percent of that deployment by the end of 2019 but recently told the Federal Communications Commission that it did not meet the end-of-2019 deadline in 23 of the 33 states.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau approved an additional 26 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Health care providers in both urban and rural areas of the country will use this $11.19 million in funding to provide telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic. To date, the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which was authorized by the CARES Act, has funded 56 health care providers in 23 states for a total of $24.9 million in funding.
With millions of employees now working from home due to COVID-19, asymmetric broadband offerings are a chokepoint for some business applications. Shrihari Pandit, the CEO of Stealth Communications, said that in addition to slower upstream speeds on DSL or cable broadband services, work from home (WFH) efforts have also been hampered by multiple users in a household using a single broadband connection for gaming, video streaming, video conferencing and remote learning. "What we've seen is some difficulty in terms of making that successful.
Alphabet-owned Loon will be able to respond more quickly and effectively to disasters worldwide thanks to a new partnership with AT&T. Under the deal, Loon has integrated its system with AT&T’s network, which happens to be pretty big since it has roaming partners around the world.
© 1994-2026 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.
