Infrastructure

For urban and rural communities, the digital divide is more than just the lack of access to high-speed internet — it’s a disconnect from economic and social ties as well as opportunities in a fast-changing society. Roberto Gallardo, Purdue University’s vice president for engagement, has spent the past decade analyzing local and regional community economic development, including the use of technology. He notes that the U.S.

On March 14, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission concluded that broadband is not being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has allocated tens of billions of dollars to support broadband deployment so it may not come as a huge surprise that the FCC came to this conclusion. Approximately 24 million Americans (7% of the total U.S.

Arizona's goal of expanding broadband internet access in rural areas is taking a step forward with a public-private partnership.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Kansas, Nevada and West Virginia’s Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative.

As energy companies around the country deploy fiber to improve grid reliability, they open the door to enabling broadband connectivity to previously unserved rural communities. Alabama Power has invested over $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades to add over 1,600 miles of fiber within its service areas since 2017.

T-Mobile and EQT, a purpose-driven global investment organization, have entered into a joint venture (JV) with EQT’s Infrastructure VI fund (EQT) that will acquire fiber-to-the-home platform Lumos from EQT’s predecessor fund EQT Infrastructure III. The J

As societies and economies continue to digitize, the need to understand the digital divide beyond binary availability or adoption metrics is increasing. Understanding the quality and performance of home internet—measured by internet speeds—among different socioeconomic groups contributes to the complex digital equity landscape at a time when all U.S. states and territories are completing digital equity plans.

One of the trends that is a concern for internet service providers (ISPs) is plans by State Broadband Offices to force Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) winners to charge low rates for broadband. One argument for lowering rates is that the government is paying a big portion of the cost of building the broadband networks, and it ought to be able to extract concessions from the ISPs for taking the grant funding. In most places, BEAD will be used for the most sparsely populated places, which in many instances also have the toughest topography and construction challenges.

The Forest County Potawatomi Community of Wisconsin had been generating electricity to run its community center using solar panels for years—they just didn’t have an accurate way of tracking their energy usage. Thanks to an Internet for All grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), they now do. NTIA’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) awarded the Forest County Potawatomi Community $125,232 to provide reliable high-speed Internet service to the Tribe’s solar arrays.

Californians spend an average of $84 per month to connect to the internet—and some of the most vulnerable groups, including older adults, veterans and people with disabilities, tend to pay even more. So the state is spending billions of dollars to make broadband more affordable and available under its Broadband for All plan.