With the federal government slow to produce better maps of broadband internet coverage, state leaders are stepping up with their own efforts that they say will yield more granular information that leads to better decisions on the infrastructure buildout. Virginia became the latest state to unveil an effort to revamp its statewide broadband map in summer 2021, following Georgia's map launched in 2020. New York has proposed a similar effort but is stuck in legislative limbo, while most others rely on federal data for their existing state-level maps. This new state push comes with the Federal Communications Commission under fire for the inadequacy of its national maps. For state officials, putting together their own broadband maps with more granular data is most beneficial when distributing grant money to extend service to underserved or unserved areas. But while the new maps can help states better direct funds, there are concerns they still might be inadequate and lead to disparities in infrastructure, even as there is recognition that the current model isn’t working. Observers worry about a “patchwork” of data that is not nationally standardized.

An analysis of the failure of US broadband policy to solve the rural–urban digital divide, with a proposal for a new national rural broadband plan. As much of daily life migrates online, broadband—high-speed internet connectivity—has become a necessity. The widespread lack of broadband in rural America has created a stark urban–rural digital divide. In Farm Fresh Broadband, Christopher Ali analyzes the promise and the failure of national rural broadband policy in the United States and proposes a new national broadband plan. He examines how broadband policies are enacted and implemented, explores business models for broadband providers, surveys the technologies of rural broadband, and offers case studies of broadband use in the rural Midwest. Ali argues that rural broadband policy is both broken and incomplete: broken because it lacks coordinated federal leadership and incomplete because it fails to recognize the important roles of communities, cooperatives, and local providers in broadband access. For example, existing policies favor large telecommunication companies, crowding out smaller, nimbler providers. Lack of competition drives prices up—rural broadband can cost 37 percent more than urban broadband. The federal government subsidizes rural broadband by approximately $6 billion. Where does the money go?Ali proposes democratizing policy architecture for rural broadband, modeling it after the wiring of rural America for electricity and telephony. Subsidies should be equalized, not just going to big companies. The result would be a multistakeholder system, guided by thoughtful public policy and funded by public and private support.

Comcast announced new steps to help advance digital equity for even more students and families. Internet Essentials – Comcast's comprehensive broadband adoption program for low-income households – will now expand eligibility to Federal Pell Grant recipients. The expanded eligibility for Internet Essentials will enable even more students to stay connected as they continue to pursue degrees at colleges, universities, and technical schools. In addition, Comcast pledged to donate $15 million worth of Internet service and equipment, including more than 25,000 laptops, to low-income students, seniors, veterans, and adults. The announcement is part of Project UP, Comcast’s $1 billion commitment to reach 50 million people with the tools, resources, and skills needed to succeed in a digital world.

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg highlighted continued momentum in its Fios business but pointed to fixed wireless access as a key tool in its quest to expand its broadband reach further and faster. Vestberg explained that Fios and its 4G and 5G fixed wireless products are part of a patchwork of solutions the operator is leveraging to deliver a “full nationwide broadband offering.” He added fixed wireless gives the operator an opportunity to serve up broadband to its sprawling base of wireless customers outside its ILEC footprint. Earlier this month, Verizon announced its 5G Home internet service is now live in parts of 57 cities. Its 4G fixed wireless offering is much more broadly available, covering 48 states. The operator previously outlined plans to reach 15 million homes with fixed wireless by the end of 2021, nearly 30 million by 2023 and 50 million by 2025. For comparison, its Fios service is available to roughly 15 million locations across eight states in New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions. As of the end of Q2 2021, Verizon had approximately 6.7 million Fios subscribers. Vestberg added Verizon sees an opportunity to continue to differentiate and grow revenue from its broadband offerings by bundling various offers from partners, as it’s already done with content from Disney +.

Do you have concerns about whether students and families in your community or school have adequate, consistent access to the internet and digital devices? A new resource, Learning at Home While Under-Connected: A Toolkit for Parent Discussions and Data Collection in Your Community, is now available to help organizations get beyond the simple “yes or no” answers that come with typical surveys of internet access. This toolkit is designed for community leaders who are interested in gathering parent data and insights using research methods similar to those used in the Learning at Home While Under-Connected project, and is part of a project focusing on the needs of lower-income families who seek resources for learning at home during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.  The toolkit includes sample outreach flyers, survey questions, links to ready-made SurveyMonkey forms, and scripts and protocols for setting up discussion groups—all in Spanish and English. It also includes a quick three-page question set (also available here) that can be printed or distributed online. We hope this resource will ultimately help organizations to build partnerships that improve ecosystems of learning for today’s children and families.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, signed off in August 2021 on a new initiative code-named Project Amplify. The effort, which was hatched at an internal meeting months before in January, had a specific purpose: to use Facebook’s News Feed, the site’s most important digital real estate, to show people positive stories about the social network. The idea was that pushing pro-Facebook news items — some of them written by the company — would improve its image in the eyes of its users. But the move was sensitive because Facebook had not previously positioned the News Feed as a place where it burnished its own reputation. Several executives at the meeting were shocked by the proposal. Project Amplify punctuated a series of decisions that Facebook has made to aggressively reshape its image. Since that January internal meeting, the company has begun a multipronged effort to change its narrative by distancing Mr. Zuckerberg from scandals, reducing outsiders’ access to internal data, burying a potentially negative report about its content and increasing its own advertising to showcase its brand.

Nearly eight months into his presidency, President Biden has yet to pick permanent leaders for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which together oversee and set policy for the broadcast and Internet service industries. Pivotally, Biden has yet to nominate a fifth commissioner at the FCC, a set that would give Democrats a 3-2 majority on the five-seat commission and enable them to advance more controversial items with a party-line vote. That includes a surefire Democratic effort to reinstate the Obama-era net neutrality rules, which dictate that Internet providers should treat all Web traffic equally. "At the FCC, the chair really has the predominant role in setting the agenda, setting priorities, and while an acting chair can do that to some degree, over the long term, you don't know the priorities of whoever the permanent chair is going to be,” said Samir Jain, director of policy at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology. The vacancies are likely to hamper the agencies as they prepare to disburse funding aimed at boosting Internet connectivity nationwide that is expected to come from the bipartisan infrastructure package making its way through Congress. And they could bog down initiatives to make broadband more affordable and expand subsidies at a time when the pandemic has laid bare the US's connectivity gaps.