Coronavirus and Connectivity

Dos Palos-Oro Loma, California, School District Bridges Homework Gap

Located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, Dos Palos (CA) is halfway between San Jose and Fresno. It’s a remote community, which created challenges for the Dos Palos-Oro Loma Joint Unified School District (DPOL) when it needed to implement distance learning plans during the pandemic. Paoze Lee, the district’s technology systems director, said it was obvious that the district could provide wireless and broadband coverage only to about 50 percent of its students via commercial wireless operators. “As we tried to bridge the digital divide, we wanted to fill in the gaps,” Lee says.

New research shows the high costs of long school closures

When Covid-19 began to sweep across the country in March 2020, schools in every state closed their doors. Remote instruction effectively became a national policy for the rest of that spring. A few months later, however, school districts began to make different decisions about whether to reopen. Across much of the South and the Great Plains as well as some pockets of the Northeast, schools resumed in-person classes in the fall of 2020. Across much of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast, school buildings stayed closed and classes remained online for months.

FCC Commits Nearly $39 Million In Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund Support

The Federal Communications Commission committed nearly $39 million in the 14th wave of Emergency Connectivity Fund program support, helping to close the Homework Gap. This latest round of funding is supporting 140 schools, 14 libraries, and 1 consortium across the country, including for students in California, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Puerto Rico, and Virginia. The funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education.

How Rappahannock's universal broadband plan – powered by federal subsidies – became irresistible

As Rappahannock County approaches a decision point on participating in an ambitious eight-county high-speed broadband plan, advocates might pause to salute two events that make the milestone project possible: the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020 and the resulting passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act in March 2021. The virus shone a spotlight on the digital divide that leaves many Americans without fast and reliable internet service.

Department of Commerce Invests $1.7 Million in CARES Act Recovery Assistance to Expand Broadband Service for the Manufacturing, Agricultural and Technology Industries in Rural Central Indiana

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $1.7 million CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to Northwest Central Indiana Community Partnerships, Inc., West Lafayette, Indiana, to expand broadband access in Central Indiana in support of the region’s manufacturing, agricultural and technology industries. This project will help create and retain jobs by providing the cutting-edge technology necessary for these industries to remain competitive, while making the rural 7-county region more resilient to future economic disruptions.

2021 Annual Report

For the first time in its history, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) expanded beyond administering the four universal service programs: E-Rate, High Cost (Connect America Fund), Lifeline, and Rural Health Care. In 2021, USAC rose to the challenge and successfully administered four Federal Communications Commission initiatives, collectively known as the Congressional Response Programs.

Broadband bipartisanship: How did it happen and will it continue?

Unlike roads, bridges, ports, water systems, and transit, broadband was the only infrastructure Congress funded in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that had not been subject to multiple prior bipartisan spending efforts. One can dismiss this difference on the grounds that the physical nature of broadband is similar enough to projects in prior infrastructure legislation that including it was not a great leap. Still, unlike transportation and water systems, broadband is primarily funded by private capital.

Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s Response to Members of Congress Regarding COVID-19 Telehealth Program

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel responded to House lawmakers' letter concerning the second funding round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. The lawmakers had requested that the funding beprioritized in rural areas. In her response, Chairwoman Rosenworcel detailed the metrics the FCC used to evaluate second round applications for the program.

Internet access and its role on educational equality during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study investigates the determinants of Internet access and its effect of it on educational inequality in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings from the study reveal that despite the increase in Internet access during the Covid-19 period, the response to the pandemic has caused education inequalities. Furthermore, economic development indicators are effective in increasing Internet access and reducing educational inequality.

Gage County (NE) selects firm for ARPA-backed broadband project

Gage County, Nebraska, has selected a contractor to improve high-speed broadband access in the county.

Summit County starting $75 million fiber internet project

Summit County, Ohio, is planning to spend $75 million on a fiber internet project that will include building a 125-mile fiber optic ring to connect public safety entities in all 31 county communities and help expand internet access for residents and businesses. There are also plans in the works to work with private internet service providers, who could spend up to $300 million on the project, making the total figure for a potential public-private project nearly $400 million.

The surprising link between Covid-19 deaths and ... internet access

Two years into the pandemic, researchers are still trying to understand what makes some people more likely than others to die from Covid-19. Although we know some of the risk factors — like age and underlying disease — others are less obvious. One of the more surprising answers to this question is one that appears to have a relatively straightforward solution: internet access.

The American Rescue Plan worked

As we reach the first anniversary of President Biden signing the American Rescue Plan into law, the obvious questions include: How did it help?

Poscast: The Future of the Final Mile

When the pandemic hit, everything that could possibly be done online made the jump — work, job-hunting, school, doctor’s visits, and so on. The shift was hard for everyone, but many Americans didn’t even have the fundamental thing needed to make that change: a fast and reliable internet. People without internet access showed up at emergency rooms — during a pandemic — for non-emergencies, because they just weren’t able to do a video appointment. And when the time came, there was no refreshing a browser to find out where to get a vaccine.

The American Rescue Plan People Difference

On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act into law, an unprecedented $1.9 trillion package of emergency assistance measures. 20 states have already invested Fiscal Recovery Funds to expand broadband access—in addition to $10 billion Capital Projects Fund which they can use to help ensure that all communities have access to the high-quality, modern infrastructure needed to access critical services, including broadband. Even with more on the way, states and territories have already announced about $9 billion in ARP investments to expand high speed intern

Advisory on Providers Deceiving Lifeline Consumers

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Inspector General alerted Lifeline, Emergency Broadband Benefit, and Affordable Connectivity Program consumers and providers to improper and abusive enrollment practices that are part of some providers’ online enrollment processes. These providers impermissibly coerce and deceive applicants for Lifeline service into enrolling in unwanted EBB/ACP service or into transferring their EBB/ACP service away from their preferred provider, contrary to the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s earlier Enforcement Advisory and FCC rules.

About 2,950,000 Added Broadband From Top Providers in 2021

The largest cable and wireline phone providers in the US–representing about 96% of the market–acquired about 2,950,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in 2021, compared to gains of about 4,860,000 subscribers in 2020, and about 2,550,000 in 2019. These top broadband providers now account for about 108.4 million subscribers, with top cable companies having about 75.7 million broadband subscribers, and top wireline phone companies having about 32.7 million subscribers. Additional findings:

2021 Network Report

After hitting historic peaks in 2020, traffic on the Comcast network grew again in 2021. Data show a gradual shift throughout the year toward pre-pandemic traffic patterns. This included peak downstream traffic once again increasing faster than upstream traffic, and peak usage times shifting from earlier in the day to later in the evening. Peak downstream (download) traffic increased 11 percent over 2020 levels, while peak upstream (upload) traffic increased 5 percent.

Broadband internet access set to expand in Northeast Missouri

Internet providers across the state of Missouri to expand rural broadband access have been awarded $42.2 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Infrastructure Program for last-mile projects in 12 counties in Missouri including Marion, Shelby, and Monroe counties.

What We’ve Learned About Upload Bandwidth

Until the pandemic hit, I rarely thought about upload bandwidth. I mostly used upload bandwidth to send files to people, and I rarely cared if they received the files immediately – I was happy as long as files got sent. But the pandemic changed everything for millions of people.

NTIA Awards $277M in Grants to Expand Broadband Infrastructure

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded 13 grants as part of the Broadband Infrastructure Program. These grants, totaling more than $277 million, will be used to connect more than 133,000 unserved households.

It Takes a Village: Solving the Broadband Adoption Problem in Rural America

While some families are unconnected because broadband simply isn't available, many don't have access even when it is available, because they can't afford the service or they lack devices like laptops to connect to home broadband.

FCC Commits Another $86 Million In Emergency Connectivity Funding To Support Students And Libraries And Help Close The Homework Gap

The Federal Communications Commission is committing over $86 million in the 10th wave of Emergency Connectivity Fund program support. Since its June 2021 launch, the program has committed over $4.62 billion supporting all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the District of Columbia.