Marginalized Populations

While the proposal I made to restore net neutrality will certainly garner the most attention, the Federal Communications Commission's October agenda features many other actions to promote digital equity and support broadband-powered innovation:

Under the leadership of the White House, the Department of Education partnered with Civic Nation to launch the Online For All Campaign, bringing together a diverse coalition of supporting organizations to engage in local community action and large-scale mobilization efforts to ensure every household can get online.

Limited global research exists about girls’ and boys’ access to and use of mobile phones. For girls, access is much more diverse and colourful than simply whether they ‘have’ or ‘have not’ got a phone. Access is often transient, and diverse ownership, borrowership and sharing practices are flourishing. Boys are 1.5 times more likely to own a phone and 1.8 times more likely to own a smartphone. They're also more likely to use phones in more diverse and internet-enabled ways than girls. Girls are going to great lengths to gain access.

Having a high-speed internet connection—and the ability to use it—is critical to modern life. One major challenge persists: we can run fiber broadband to every home in North Carolina, but if the residents can’t afford the service, they still risk being left behind. Fortunately, Congress created a tremendously impactful tool to combat the high costs of internet service as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). I urge you to reauthorize this critical program that makes internet access more affordable.

Plans to spend Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program dollars to connect underserved populations could be impacted by state elections, according to broadband policy experts. Among the ten states that got the largest BEAD allocations, three (Missouri, North Carolina and Louisiana) will hold gubernatorial elections before the end of 2024. Executive Director of ConnectLA Veneeth Iyengar—Louisiana’s broadband program—plans to have as much BEAD work as possible done before th

Mayor Jim Strickland (D-Memphis) unveiled a program that could create affordable broadband internet access for thousands of Memphians currently living without it. The plan would partner the city with a private telecommunications company to install fiber optic cables to at least 6,000 properties—both residential and commercial. The applicant awarded the contract would have to meet a series of guidelines, and if the City of Memphis finds that the company is not in compliance with the requirements, it could remove the "Smart City Fiber Access System" designation—which allows that company to pa

Baltimore (MD) Civic Works Program Director Eli Allen was approached by Paniagua’s Enterprise, a Baltimore-based communications construction company, to find workers capable of laying out fiber-optics for broadband and doing the accompanying construction work. “ [Paniagua’s Enterprise] identified a significant skills gap in being able to hire workers for these critical jobs, and have seen… an increased investment in the work,” explained Allen.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the fact that millions of people, especially in rural America, do not have access to broadband. In response, more than $150 billion of federal and state funding will be spent over the next five years to close the digital divide. However, a new digital divide centered around latency—the delay before a data transfer begins, exemplified by video stuttering—could emerge if rural communities lack the broadband infrastructure to provide low-latency services.

Without reliable, affordable internet, rural communities have limited economic opportunities and lack access to education, healthcare, and many other services. Broadband expansion is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, said Adrianne Furniss, director of the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society.

A $580,000 Windstream public–private partnership in Throckmorton (TX) has the provider’s Kinetic gigabit fiber broadband service available to public schools and 650 homes and businesses in the small city. The bulk of the financing—$420,000—is being provided by Windstream. The balance is coming from the Throckmorton Collegiate Independent School District’s operating budget ($20,000), the City of Throckmorton ($70,000) and Throckmorton County ($70,000).