Digital Divide

Everyone in Pennsylvania has access to broadband—at least, according to the definition set by state lawmakers in the early 2000s. But ask residents of rural areas about their internet speeds, and you’ll likely hear about slow connections and outdated technology. In 1993, the state legislature approved a sweeping measure they hoped would guarantee universal access to high-speed internet in Pennsylvania.

On July 2, 2018, then-Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA) announced that the Commonwealth of Virginia should achieve functionally universal broadband coverage within 10 years. Reaching that goal would be no easy feat. At the time, Virginia was investing just $4 million a year into its broadband program and 660,000 Virginians did not have access to high-speed internet. This week, Virginia's efforts got a big boost when the U.S. Department of Treasury approved nearly $220 million to support broadband deployment projects in the Commonwealth.

The Department of the Treasury announced the first group of plans approved under the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF). The CPF provides $10 billion to states, territories, freely associated states, and Tribal governments to fund critical capital projects that enable work, education, and health monitoring in response to the public health emergency.

A new effort to install a fiber network could soon bring high speed broadband throughout Rocky Mount (NC). But some living in rural areas outside the city limits have concerns that the digital divide in their neighborhoods will keep growing. On May 20, city leaders announced telecommunications company Metronet would be spending $20 million to lay a fiber network throughout the city limits, bringing high speed internet as soon as next spring. While Rocky Mount celebrated, neighboring communities said they're worried about being left behind.

A $400 million investment in broadband internet infrastructure approved by Illinois lawmakers in 2019 could pay for itself by added tax revenues alone within four years of completion of construction. That's according to a report by the University of Illinois Project for Middle Class Renewal and the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, which estimated an additional 238,000 households, businesses and farms would have new internet accessibility as a result of the state funding combined with at least $100 million in new federal funding and other nonstate funds.

Sens Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Alan Davidson and stressed that broadband deployment grants should be technology neutral.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes the largest-ever federal investment in broadband. Pennsylvania could receive as much as $1 billion — enough to seriously move the needle. But the state may now have another, more unique problem. In 2004, Pennsylvania lawmakers gave telephone companies what one critic at the time described as a “virtual veto” over publicly-owned networks they saw as unwelcome competition. But for years afterward, the law was rarely invoked.

MCNC recently announced it will fully support the collaborative efforts from many state, local and federal stakeholders to ensure North Carolina maximizes the unprecedented opportunities now available for broadband and digital equity and inclusion investments.

Even prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, some teens faced problems completing their homework because they lacked a computer or internet access at home – a phenomenon often referred to as the “homework gap.” And as students

As discussed in Keller & Heckman's initial post in this series, the Federal Communications Commission is about to launch its new Broadband Data Collection (BDC) program.