Christopher Ali

This report details the experiences of rural first responders in Pennsylvania working with information communication technologies (ICTs) and digital networks. Through a series of focus groups and interviews with law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical service providers, and 911 center representatives, along with county officials and other local stakeholders, we explore the challenges and opportunities brought by digital communication technologies for the work of rural first responders.

If the character Edward Cullen of the ubiquitous Twilight saga taught us anything (aside from the fact that Robert Pattinson’s hair can do no wrong), it is that being a heretic can be cool. In the series, the Volturi—the Vampiric Council—operates as an authoritative government dictating the terms of vampire life: encouraging slaughter of humans, forbidding certain romance, and eventually seeking the destruction of Edward and Bella’s baby. Cullen went against these vampire norms to protect his loved ones, doing so in a way that made many hearts flutter.

I first want to set the scene by telling you what I heard from a rural firefighter who participated in a focus group I held for a project sponsored by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania about how the lack of internet impacts first responders and public safety in rural Pennsylvania: “If you lose signal, you can’t communicate, you better have God sitting on your shoulders because that’s the only person that’s gonna be able to help you.” This quote has stayed with me since I heard it last summer, because it encapsulates the dire need for meaningful, affordable, connectivity throughout the Commo

Broadband is critical to Pennsylvania’s economy, public services, and quality of life, enabling access to work, education, healthcare, and government services. Its importance is especially pronounced in rural and post-industrial communities, where connectivity supports economic opportunity and access to essential resources. Yet major gaps remain: over 130,000 locations lack broadband access, and roughly 2 million households struggle to afford service.

On May 2, President Trump signed the executive order ordering the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to halt all funding to PBS and NPR local stations. The executive order has been heavily disputed. PBS CEO Paula Kerger called it “blatantly unlawful.” CPB stated that its mandate comes from and, therefore, can only be terminated by Congress. Yet the President has found many in the Republican party to support his viewpoints. Notably, Rep.

Elon Musk’s satellite broadband company – Starlink – is poised to receive billions of dollars in federal subsidies should the recently announced changes to the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program be approved by Congress.

In an age of platforms, apps, and streaming services, telecommunications policy has a distinctly antiquated ring. Conventionally associated with POTS—plain old telephone systems—telecommunications policy, some might say, is decidedly not about PANS—pretty awesome new stuff. However, both POTS and PANS depend on a global infrastructural backbone of fiber optic cables, satellites, spectrum, and networks to bring the digital age to people’s homes, offices, and mobile phones.

Access to information is riding a turbulent sea of costs, technology shifts, and ever-rising requirements for digital connectivity. Although the notion of information as a foundation of democracy seems commonplace in the United States, it took the COVID-19 pandemic to drive home the disarray of access around the country and across the globe. The broader subject of the “digital divide” has received a lot of attention as a proxy for ideas around digital access. Understanding of the divide has evolved alongside the internet itself.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides $42.45 billion in grant funding to states via the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD). IIJA also underscores that any state receiving these funds may not exclude local governments from applying to use these funds to build their own broadband networks.

In the summer of 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will begin distributing hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, of funding to states as part of the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Expectedly, states are busy creating and staffing broadband offices in anticipation of the BEAD and digital equity monies. Blinded by a nationwide broadband fever, however, some broadband leaders have proclaimed that states will entirely close, bridge, or eliminate the digital divide in the coming years.