COVID-19 has exacerbated the digital “haves” and “have nots” through remote work, learning, and telehealth, yet our government’s main agency to support greater access and adoption is inadequately funded and functioned to meet this moment. AT&T recently published a blogpost lamenting the rise in contributions to the Universal Service Fund (USF) and arguing for funding reform. The USF funds a series of subsidy programs aimed at ameliorating the digital divide. It is bankrolled by contributions from telecommunication companies in the form of a levy on telephone bills. That amount has risen to 26 percent, up from 14 percent a decade ago. This means that 26 percent of profits earned on interstate and international phone calls goes to the USF. These contributions are passed down to consumers’ bills as an additional surcharge. AT&T is not wrong to argue for “USF reform.” But AT&T cannot shirk its obligations and should contribute to build partners for an “all of the above” strategy to fund and support the USF. We need to build a coalition around reform that puts communities and stakeholders at the forefront. A connected America is too important to leave to the largest corporations alone. This includes regulators, USF contributing companies, receiving companies, and the rural and marginalized communities USF is designed to serve. Broadband, after all, is not about technology, money and policy: Broadband is about people.

Christopher Ali, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia and Faculty Fellow with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

Harin Contractor was the former Economic Policy Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Labor. He also founded the Data Analytics team at the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

Cable operators, cognizant that the broadband wave the industry has been riding for more than a decade could eventually come to a halt, have quietly been building out their service footprints, expanding the pool of potential high-speed internet customers and ensuring a lengthy growth runway for their most profitable service. In the second quarter, both Charter Communications and Comcast reported record broadband subscriber growth despite the ongoing pandemic. Charter led the way with the addition of 850,000 broadband customers (588,000, when certain COVID-19 related programs are excluded). Comcast added 323,000 subscribers for its best Q2 growth in 13 years. Even with the COVID-19 programs excluded — mainly the Federal Communications Commission’s Keep Americans Connected Pledge and Charter’s own Remote Education Offer — broadband growth was an all-time high for Charter. 

While the popularity of the broadband product could be due to Americans being confined to their homes for most of the day as the pandemic rages on, both Charter and Comcast believe that there is ample runway ahead for the service. And they aren’t the only ones.

For all the talk of Generation Z’s Internet savvy, a stunning number of young people are locked out of virtual classes because they lack high-speed Internet service at home. In 2018, nearly 17 million children lived in homes without high-speed Internet, and more than 7 million did not have computers at home. The issue affects a disproportionately high percentage of Black, Latino and Native American households — with nearly one-third of students lacking high-speed Internet at home. Students in Southern states and in rural communities also were particularly overrepresented. In Mississippi and Arkansas, about 40 percent of students lacked high-speed Internet. 

Education advocates say Congress could deliver an easy fix as part of a coronavirus relief package by expanding an existing program that helps schools and libraries get Internet service. But those hopes collapsed alongside talks between Congress and the White House on a new relief package. With talks deadlocked, President Donald Trump issued an executive order for coronavirus relief. It provides nothing for K-12 public schools. The consequences of the gap between those who have access to virtual learning and those who do not could be felt for years to come. "It’s dire,” said Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who has pushed to increase funding that subsidizes the cost of Internet service for schools and libraries. Her district contains parts of rural Virginia that are not served by Internet service providers. “We are generationally committing to significant divides in our communities over what kind of education our children are getting.”

Epic Games, locked in a legal battle with Apple and Google over developer payments, now says Apple is threatening to cut the company off from developer accounts and iOS and Mac development tools. This decision, expected to go into effect Aug. 28, might have widespread effects on App Store development. This goes beyond “Fortnite,” the Epic Games title that was the catalyst for the legal fight. Epic Games is also the creator of Unreal Engine, which has not only become an industry standard for creating video games, but as well as film, commercial business and TV shows like “The Mandalorian” on Disney+. Without that access, all future versions of Unreal Engine can’t be developed for iOS and Mac devices like iPhones and Macbooks. In turn, subsequent updates to iOS or Mac devices could make software running on Unreal Engine unusable. Epic has filed for a temporary restraining order to stop the move from taking effect.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in the Department of Commerce further restricted access by Huawei Technologies and its non-US affiliates on the Entity List to items produced domestically and abroad from US technology and software. In addition, BIS added another 38 Huawei affiliates to the Entity List, which imposes a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and modified four existing Huawei Entity List entries. BIS also imposed license requirements on any transaction involving items subject to Commerce export control jurisdiction where a party on the Entity List is involved, such as when Huawei (or other Entity List entities) acts as a purchaser, intermediate, or end user. These actions, effective immediately, prevent Huawei’s attempts to circumvent US export controls to obtain electronic components developed or produced using US technology. This amendment further restricts Huawei from obtaining foreign made chips developed or produced from US software or technology to the same degree as comparable US chips.