Closing the Digital Divide Requires More Than a Quick Fix

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. State broadband leaders should approach digital exclusion as a chronic condition that requires dynamic, flexible, long-term responses and planning. Six issues require long-term planning and should be addressed in every state’s NTIA-mandated five-year broadband and digital equity plan:

1. Remote Connectivity: State broadband leaders need to plan to serve the most remote of us, and this will mean looking beyond BEAD.
2. Operational Expenses: The BEAD program covers capital expenses for the deployment of broadband networks (preferably fiber optics). It does not cover operational expenses.
3. Affordability: While the FCC is encouraging eligible households to register for the Affordable Connectivity Program, the money will dry up sometime in 2024. States and Congress must ensure low-income families remain connected post-ACP.
4. Mapping: The FCC and states must address digital discrimination, and this can only be done with reliable maps.
5. Hardware: To realize digital equity, states need to ensure marginalized communities have access to more than just “good enough” technologies.
6. Literacy and Skills: When developing digital equity plans, state broadband leaders must think long-term to ensure their constituents have the training and confidence needed to take advantage of their newfound connectivity.

[Christopher Ali is Professor of Telecommunications in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University.]