What Will It Take To Close The Digital Equity Gap?

Hear from Ernesto Falcon, Senior Legislative Counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes 21st century fiber access for all Americans in its policy work. Ernesto is a lead researcher and advocate that was deeply involved in pushing California to promote universal fiber infrastructure in its newest broadband program. Learn about the latest developments in the state of California as well as the interplay between the states and the new bipartisan broadband infrastructure law to close not just the digital divide but the equity divide in broadband access.

The NTIA has been tasked with not just funding broadband infrastructure, but long-term infrastructure solutions. Specifically, the NTIA has been tasked to establish a “Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program” to prioritize networks that will deliver a minimum of 100/20 mbps with latency that is sufficiently low to allow reasonable foreseeable, real-time, interactive applications. These networks must easily scale speeds over time to meet evolving connectivity needs and support 5G, successor wireless technologies. Simultaneously, the NTIA must define “low-cost broadband service” as part of its process while the Federal Communications Commission must implement a new 5-year $30 a month subsidy program to help low-income Americans afford broadband access. Learn how all of these objectives come together and why fiber will play a central role.