Linda Poon

Startup internet company Underline, which focuses on community infrastructure, is now hoping to disrupt the telecommunications industry by building open access fiber networks across 2,500 underserved communities. The company says its first full-scale deployment will break ground October 19 in Colorado Springs (CO) — where 10 percent of all households have no internet access. In an open access model, a city or a private company like Underline builds and maintains the physical infrastructure, and invites multiple independent providers to run services on the network.

As many local governments have scrambled to secure internet access for children in virtual school, some policies could last past the pandemic. One popular approach in cities like Washington (DC) and Chicago has been providing low-cost or free service to families who can’t afford a broadband subscription, and the tech devices to go with them.

In Sept, the Washington DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) piloted its “All Hands on Tech” program, setting up two repair events in which the city’s own technicians helped residents fix their devices. Volunteers from local nonprofits like ByteBack, which prepares adults for a career in technology, also came out to help. The events were held at libraries inside Wards 7 and 8, where some of DC’s poorest communities live. America’s digital divide is essentially boiled down to three things.