Digital Divide

On Sept. 3, the Nebraska Broadband Office, or NBO, released its draft final proposal for how to spend $405 million in federal broadband funds. Advocates for rural broadband like myself fought hard for that money, challenging providers’ overstated coverage and identifying tens of thousands of missing locations. The federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, or BEAD, promised to fix rural broadband in Nebraska once and for all. Instead, NBO fumbled. Out of $405 million, the plan spends barely $43 million and connects fewer than 1,300 locations to fiber broadband.

A key component of expanding access to high-speed internet, increasing the affordability of connectivity and devices, and providing meaningful digital skills training  is defining what it means to be digitally prepared. Recognizing that digital access alone is not enough, this project introduces the North Carolina Digital Skills Standards, a statewide framework that identifies  the essential knowledge and abilities residents need to engage in civic, economic, and social life.  The key six areas of focus are: 1. Digital Identity 2. Digital Wellbeing 3. Digital Relationships 4.

What comes after Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program? While BEAD will build good broadband networks in a lot of rural communities, it’s becoming clear that BEAD is not going to solve a lot of the rural broadband gap. I start with the premise that rural communities are not going to be happy when somebody officially tells them that the federal government is giving money to Starlink or Kuiper to solve their rural broadband gap.

A Digital Divide Simulation exercise convened by Neighborhood Allies with partner organizations, including the Greater Pittsburgh Digital Inclusion Alliance, coincided with  with the start of Digital Inclusion Week.

The vast majority of states and territories have released their Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program final proposals for public comment. Many have closed their feedback periods, wrapped up their plans, and submitted those plans to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for approval. For the few remaining states that received extensions on the deadline to submit final plans, this process is still underway. Here are a few of the states that are in the process of completing their plans.

“We all benefit when we are all connected—when workers connect with employers, patients connect with doctors, students connect with teachers, and small businesses connect with customers. That’s what Congress designed the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program to deliver—connectivity and opportunity for all," said Executive Director Dr. Revati Prasad. “NDIA’s action today is an unfortunately necessary step to restoring Congress’s intention.

This study examines the political economy, discursive legitimations, and effectiveness of the primary U.S. policy response to narrowing the digital divide: public subsidies for internet service. Using Philadelphia as our case study, we analyze municipal efforts to enroll low-income communities in low-cost commercial broadband plans supported by the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Like many other U.S.

While figuring out the math in its Starlink Capacity Analysis report, the X-Labs team found that a large density of users in a given area would "saturate the network" so much, that Starlink would be unable to deliver a minimal upload speed threshold that meets the Federal Communications Commission's threshold for "broadband" service.

Policy changes, technology limitations and problems in mapping data will all, in some way, limit the nation’s ability to bring broadband to rural America, industry watchers said. The states that have invested in standing up broadband offices with highly qualified technical expertise and the administrative heft to develop strong public policy will likely be more successful at closing the digital divide, consultants said.

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the Trump Administration’s repeal of the Digital Equity Act Competitive Grant Program.