Data & Mapping

The role of data in broadband planning has undergone a transformative change, and it’s important to understand the cost drivers, location density, and other key metrics affecting the broadband economic landscape. Cost determinants such as cost of labor, materials, build complexity, and location density are some of the top drivers in cost that allow organizations to model the economic landscape of unserved and underserved areas. To close the digital divide for all, not just in the attractive areas, states are strategically consolidating geographic areas to enhance commercial viability and op

According to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, Black and Hispanic adults in the United States remain less likely than White adults to say they own a traditional computer or have high-speed internet at home. Eighty percent of White adults report owning a desktop or laptop computer, compared with 69 percent of Black adults and 67 percent of Hispanic adults. Eighty percent of White adults also report having a broadband connection at home, while smaller shares of Black and Hispanic adults say the same—71 percent and 65 percent, respectively.

A tour of the remaining United States Digital Divide from a home in Quincy (CA) to an unserved farm in Newton (NC) to a home in Troy (AL).  These locations (and more) are from a random sample of BEAD-eligible unserved and underserved locations that are not part of the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) or Alternative Connect America Model (A-CAM) programs. 

California is expected to significantly scale down a multibillion-dollar plan to expand high-speed broadband networks soon. And the data the state is using to make the amendments is inaccurate, experts and advocates say, meaning lower-income areas with some of the lowest rates of internet access, like East Oakland, could lose out the most. In pockets of Alameda County, which includes East Oakland, up to 38% of residents don’t have internet access, nearly triple the 13% statewide average.

Since Congress enacted the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, much of the discussion among policymakers and the public regarding Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program has focused on efforts to connect low-income populations.

In its recently released Draft Digital Opportunity Plan, the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development (OBD) envisions a future where digital equity connects all Minnesota residents to opportunities, options, and each other. The three goals highlighted in the plan—connect people to people, connect people to information, and connect people to resources—are ultimately limited, nodding to the moments where connections happen rather than the real systemic work it takes to sustain connections. To do so, OBD says, it will take people working together across the state with this shared vision.

Illinois farmers and communities need broadband internet to thrive. The Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) and its driven partners intend to make that happen by securing federal dollars earmarked for bridging the digital divide. IIN-funded research will help them make their case. It provides attention-grabbing estimates of how much more farmers could produce with reliable internet. Public university partners said the total economic gain of added production that would accompany increased broadband coverage is 3.6% for corn and 3.8% for soybeans.

The Oklahoma Broadband Office (OBO) has launched an interactive online map detailing availability of high-speed internet service throughout the state. The Oklahoma Broadband Map offers Oklahomans a way to track improvements in broadband infrastructure as federal grant funds are deployed statewide over the coming years. Developed using federal grant funds appropriated by the Legislature, the state map offers information and functions not available in either of two maps maintained by the Federal Communications Commission – one showing service availab

Experts at Fiber Connect convened to address the need for new approaches to fiber deployments in challenging environments.

The $451 million that Kansas will receive in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program will be sufficient to make service available to everyone in the state if 25 percent of it goes to fixed wireless access (FWA), said Jade Piros de Carvalho, director of the Kansas Office of Broadband Development. That determination was based on cost modeling, she said. Although Piros de Carvalho was disappointed in the amount of funding that the state received, she said, “I anticipate we’ll be OK.