Governing

As many of the nation’s pupils close in on a year of virtual remote learning, public policy analysts are highlighting the scope of the digital divide and ways in which policymakers can close it. While policymakers have made efforts to expand access to computers and broadband since the COVID-19 pandemic began, analysts say up to 12 million K-12 students remain underserved.

As much as the pandemic is a challenge, the urgency it presents also provides an opportunity to finally make significant progress on these digital issues. To get started and provide a framework for future action, I recommend focusing on the following:

There's no better time for state and local governments to get serious about developing proactive approaches to keeping residents connected in the days, months and years following a natural disaster. Among the programs that should be advertised to disaster survivors is the federal Lifeline program, which provides a subsidy that covers all or a portion of the cost of wireless voice and internet services for low-income consumers who qualify.

Across the country, telecommunication companies are beginning to lay the groundwork for 5G wireless networks. The buildout often pits states against cities. But a proposal that the Federal Communications Commission is set to vote on Sept 26 would not only upend future local agreements, but also preempt states. If approved, localities across the country would have drastically less authority over 5G infrastructure. 

[Op-ed] Publicly owned broadband networks exist for one purpose: to give the most people the best service at the lowest possible prices. They do this because they know it benefits their residents’ quality of life and incomes. Verizon, Comcast and other big internet providers don’t like localities encroaching on their business, and they have gone to court to stop public broadband networks from being established. They have lost these cases, but defending them costs governments time and money.

[Commentary] Public broadband offers communities options to extend high-speed connectivity to un- or underserved constituents. At least it did.

But now the US Court of Appeals has put a speed bump squarely in the middle of the so-called information super highway with its ruling that the Federal Communications Commission cannot block states from setting limits on municipal broadband expansion. Cities in Tennessee and North Carolina had previously received backing from the FCC to expand their fiber optic networks beyond their traditional service boundaries. It's an odd situation, especially in Tennessee as Chattanooga has received international acclaim for providing its citizens with access to one of the fastest broadband systems in the world for the last five years – and it’s only getting faster. As of 2015, the city’s Electric Power Board (EPB) began offering the world’s first community-wide 10 Gbps internet service. Beyond bragging rights, Chattanooga’s commitment to connectivity is a successful business venture that has defied dire predictions by critics.

[Littlefield was mayor of Chattanooga when the city's municipally owned Electric Power Board built the fiber optic system to provide gigabit connectivity to an area covering more than 650 square miles]

Wilson, North Carolina, determined nearly a decade ago that high-speed Internet access would be essential to the community’s social and economic health in the 21st century, just as electricity, water and sewers were in the previous 100 years.

Today, Wilson is North Carolina’s first “Gigabit City.”

Its Greenlight broadband utility serves 7,000 of 50,000 residents with Internet speeds between 20 Mbps, or 20 megabits per second, and 1 Gbps, or 1 gigabit per second.

Greenlight also offers electricity to six surrounding counties, but not Internet, cable TV or phone service. Many other small communities without high-speed broadband would like to follow Wilson’s lead, but they have run into resistance from state officials who don’t want municipalities competing with private companies that pay taxes.

States also fear exposing taxpayers to potential losses if systems should fail. In recent years 20 other states either have prohibited municipal broadband or thrown up hurdles making it more difficult for communities to get into the broadband business.