According to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2019 Broadband Deployment Report, approximately 21.3 million Americans lack a broadband connection speed of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download/3 Mbps upload, which is the FCC’s benchmark for high-speed broadband. In the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, federal, local, and state governments, in addition to large and small businesses, are considering remote working or distance learning options to help abate the spread of the virus. As these decisions are made, some portion of the population will likely have the option and the capability to shift activities online, while others will not. COVID-19 mitigation efforts will likely reveal discrepancies in broadband availability and accessibility—termed the digital divide—across the United States.

Large segments of the US workforce have shifted to remote work, but not all workers and communities are equally prepared for remote work or e-learning. Studies have found not all jobs/occupations are remote work friendly and internet access among school districts vary significantly. Two factors in particular affect workers’ ability to work remotely in their communities. The first is the availability of ubiquitous, adequate and affordable digital connectivity, which varies widely across the country. The second is the share of jobs that can be done via remote work. This too varies across the country, with remote work amenable jobs concentrating in large metros and tech hubs.

Our analysis looked at how America’s more than 3,000 counties are able to implement remote work in terms of two key variables—how limited their digital connectivity is (including access to internet and devices) and those that have a higher share of workers employed in industries and occupations least amenable to remote work. Nearly forty percent of counties had moderate to high vulnerability to remote work (27.7% moderate and 10.6% high vulnerability) compared to more than 60 percent which had lower vulnerability (34.3% low vulnerability, 27.4% of no vulnerability). The counties that are best positioned for success with remote work are more urban, have larger economies, more educated workers, and higher incomes. Conversely, those that are most vulnerable are smaller, more rural, suffer from high rates of unemployment and have less educated workers.That said, even the least vulnerable places across the country have some percentage of residents and workers who are not well suited for remote work, who suffer from inadequate connectivity, and work in occupations or industries that are far less amenable to remote work.

By most accounts, internet networks are holding up just fine in the face of increased usage due to the impact of the coronavirus, but that could change over the coming weeks. According to research by Nokia Deepfield that started the week of March 9, networks have seen an increase of 20% to 40% during peak usage in impacted regions. As the coronavirus has stretched across the globe, networks have seen increased usage due to total lock downs of citizens in some countries, more employees working from home and increased gaming and streaming by kids home from school.

"The real question," said Craig Labovitz, chief technology officer for Nokia Deepfield, is did we see "40% growth over last week in some places: what will this will look like next week?  We've never seen this volume of network-wide growth before so we don't have a lot of data points. And what the real question is, what does this look like growth-wise week after week?"

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, doctors around the country are turning to telemedicine as a safety precaution to contain the spread of the virus. Virtual visits also enable healthcare facilities to more efficiently handle issues not related to the virus. The Federal Communications Commission's Rural Health Care Program (RHCP) is critical for enabling internet connectivity for rural healthcare facilities that may otherwise not be able to afford it by subsidizing a discount for broadband services. Following Hurricane Katrina, the FCC loosened restrictions on the RHCP to allow non-rural providers to apply for support under the program. In 2005, the FCC’s rationale for this decision was that “Hurricane Katrina has also severely limited the ability of healthcare providers in the affected areas to respond effectively to both injuries caused by the hurricane and ongoing medical needs of the population.” Unfortunately, this statement applies almost perfectly to our current pandemic as well. For these reasons, we ask that you loosen the restrictions on RHCP to expand eligibility to all healthcare facilities nationwide as expeditiously as possible.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) released the following statement today after President Trump signed the Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2020 (S. 893) and the Broadband DATA Act (S. 1822) into law:

“The bills signed into law today by the President are critical to ensuring that all Americans can access broadband and that our networks are secure and trusted.  The need for connectivity is even more critical now that millions of Americans are teleworking and learning from home in response to the coronavirus pandemic. We must prepare our networks for the 5G future and ensure federal agencies work together on a comprehensive plan to identify and address security risks in 5G and future wireless technologies — the Secure 5G and Beyond Act requires exactly that....It’s also long past time to fix our nation’s faulty broadband maps.  Accurately mapping unserved and underserved communities is essential to promoting the deployment of high-speed service to all Americans and ensuring our investments have maximum impact.  The Broadband DATA Act will help tremendously with those efforts....We look forward to continuing to work together to ensure our nation’s telecommunications networks are safe and secure, and that Americans across the country can access the internet.”

S. 893 was the companion bill to the Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2019 (HR 2881) which was passed by the House in Jan. This legislation requires the President to develop the "Secure Next Generation Mobile Communications Strategy” with the heads of the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Defense. The legislation then requires the President to develop a separate implementation plan for the strategy for the President and NTIA to carry out.

S. 1822 includes the following two bills that passed the House in Dec: The “Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act” or the “Broadband DATA Act,” (HR 4229), which requires the FCC to issue new rules to require the collection and dissemination of granular broadband availability data, to establish a process to verify the accuracy of such data and more; and, the “Mapping Accuracy Promotes Services Act” or the “MAPS Act,” (HR 4227) which specifies that it is unlawful for a person to willfully, knowingly or recklessly submit inaccurate broadband service data.

As schools across the country move toward virtual learning as they shut down their buildings amid the coronavirus emergency, it has highlighted the digital divide that exists between students who have readily available internet access and those who do not. The Federal Communications Commission has announced a number of initiatives to help more people get connected to the internet in the wake of the coronavirus emergency. But some experts, lawmakers, and members of the agency believe it can do more. Benton Institute Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn said she commended FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and the agency for some of their moves, but stressed that its decisions in the past—including abdicating its authority to oversee broadband providers as part of its net neutrality repeal—have created a situation where it is asking for participation instead of being able to require broadband providers to step in and help. 

“They’re doing some good things and deserve credit for it, but they’re not doing nearly enough…The reason we’re in this position in the first place is because of bad policy. We’re in this position because the FCC has abdicated its authority over broadband. It can’t tell the providers what to do, it has to beg them to do things in a national emergency.” Sohn said while there was “no silver linings in the dark cloud of COVID-19,” she hoped that once the coronavirus pandemic has subsided, the stark contrast between students—and adults—who have access to high-speed internet and who don’t will have been demonstrated enough that lawmakers take serious action to close the digital divide and take a look at issues including price, competition, device availability, and more.

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) says wireless broadband providers need to do more to help families connect to broadband during the coronavirus pandemic. While he praised the efforts to date, including waiving overage fees and encouraged "all providers [to] temporarily make as much data available as possible, as quick as possible," he also called on them to provide more data for mobile hot spots during the Covid-19 crisis. "This is an unprecedented time, and wireless providers have already stepped up to the plate in a big way," he said. “But more can be done. Increasing data caps for hot spots is the fastest way to connect Americans temporarily who do not have Wi-Fi at home." "We must not lose sight of the bigger problem: the need to deploy broadband in the long-term," he said.