A letter to the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress advocates for increased rural infrastructure funding in any future COVID-19 relief packages. The 258 local, state and national organizations called on Congress to “Ensure that our rural communities have access to: clean and safe drinking water and wastewater facilities, secure and dependable surface transportation, reliable and affordable power, healthcare, housing, and broadband and research institutions with state-of-the-art facilities, in order to thrive and attract future generations.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Sens John Thune (R-SD), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act. The legislation would provide all Americans with more transparency, choice, and control over the collection and use of their personal health, device, geolocation, and proximity data. The bill would also hold businesses accountable to consumers if they use personal data to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act would:

Sens Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) urged Comcast to open all of its public Wi-Fi networks to the approximately 12 million American students who lack internet access at home, as schools rely on online education as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. In a letter to Comcast, the lawmakers wrote, “Comcast has taken important steps to help Americans get connected during this global public health emergency. But it can—and should—do more to help children and teachers in Oregon and across the country.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) announced the National Broadband Plan for the Future Act, legislation that instructs the Federal Communications Commission to update the National Broadband Plan, as well as study how the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way Americans live, learn, and work online.

Opensignal’s latest analysis demonstrates that 5G greatly improves the real-world speeds that users experience. And, even more significantly, 5G offers faster average download speeds than Wi-Fi in seven out of eight leading 5G countries. Our findings show the importance of not letting the current COVID-19 crisis — or active anti-5G disinformation campaigns — delay 5G rollouts because the increased capacity and faster speeds that 5G enables are critical to keeping people connected today and in the future with rising network usage.

Commerce Sec Wilbur Ross announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is now accepting applications from eligible grantees for  Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) supplemental funds (EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance) intended to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. On March 27, 2020, President Donald Trump signed the $2 trillion CARES Act into law. The CARES Act provides EDA with $1.5 billion of which $1.467 billion is available for grant making.

Recently, more than 30 companies came together to announce a coalition to promote policies that support implementing open 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) technology, a critical part of deploying 5G technology. This commitment by the private sector to advance the same objectives shows the widespread priority to secure our domestic and global communications supply chain, and it’s a great step forward to encourage our allies to follow suit.

History at the crossroads, one of those inflection points when we have the opportunity to learn from our experiences and use them to build a better future. Coronavirus brings us to another of those crossroads. Which road will we take?

The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare many of the inequalities in America, including the differences in access to broadband Internet. Three policies that can help: (1) allow cities to provide their own broadband; (2) expand and reform Lifeline; and (3) provide tax incentives to firms that subsidize their employees’ broadband. The first of these policies stimulates the “supply” of broadband, while the second two stimulate “demand.” Together, these policies should help reduce the digital divide.

In Baltimore (MD), nearly one-quarter of households lack internet access at home and 18% lack access to a device. The Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition includes 50 organizations from across the city to address the digital divide that has existed in Baltimore for years, but is being exacerbated in a time when school and work often require device and internet connectivity at home, and gathering points that would provide access like schools and community centers are closed.