The FCC Could Do More Now About the Digital Divide, Say Panelists at Broadband Breakfast Live Online Event

“It’s really unfortunate that it has taken a national emergency, a worldwide pandemic, for people to realize how many people don’t have access to broadband internet,” said Benton Institute Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn. Right now, the Federal Communications Commission could make E-Rate funds available for mobile hotspots and connectivity. “This is the classroom today,” said Sohn, arguing that those funds apply and are necessary. The money in the Universal Service Fund is shrinking because it is only funded by telephone services, which have become nearly obsolete and not “sustainable,” said Sohn. “Let’s be honest folks; this FCC and their friends in Congress hate E-rate, and they hate Lifeline because they are subsidy programs that help poor people and brown and black people,” said Sohn.

Chris Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self Reliance, highlighted the dissonance between government urging Americans to stay home but making broadband accessible outside of the home, like school parking lots. Mitchell said a significant flaw with the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is the allocation of billions of dollars to service areas with 25/3 megabits per second, a speed that will soon be outdated.“This is a really bad decision,” argued Mitchell. “We’re going to pay for these networks twice.”