Universal Broadband

In the wake of the Biden Administration’s request for a $6 billion extension of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), some in Congress question the program’s true impact on bringing broadband access to new users.

Five million dollars has been awarded to eight internet service providers (ISPs) in the latest round of Broadband Acceleration Grants for 2023. The awards will be paired with an additional $6.6 million in matching funds, resulting in an investment of nearly $12 million for high-speed broadband access projects across 10 rural Kansas counties. Initiated in 2020, the Broadband Acceleration Grant is a 10-year, $85 million program designed to bring essential internet access to Kansas communities.

A look at potential changes to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) eligibility criteria based on participation in social benefits programs such as Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Public Assistance Income (PAP). These potential changes would have broad impacts since the National Verifier (NV) uses program participation rather than income to confirm eligibility for over 90 percent of ACP applications.

Rural advocates have high hopes for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. While it primarily focuses on providing infrastructure to places that are “unserved” and “underserved”, there is also a requirement for states to describe how their plans to award funds will address broadband affordability. Both are important topics for rural residents. The most recent data we have show dramatic rural-urban gaps in both broadband access and adoption. It’s widely recognized that affordability plays a large role in why households remain offline.

In today’s world, connectivity is essential to our daily lives. For more than 750,000 veterans across the United States, this connectivity is all made possible thanks to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)—and unless Congress funds this essential program, those veterans will be cut off by Spring. The program has been instrumental in keeping more than 21 million households connected across the U.S. and 2.5 million veterans are eligible.

Colorado is a bit of an enigma. It’s home to numerous dense and high population areas including the Denver/Boulder metro area, Fort Collins to the north and Colorado Springs to the south.

Final guidance for North Carolina's Broadband Pole Replacement Program as part of ongoing efforts to connect more North Carolinians to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. This program, established with $100 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, will reimburse high-speed internet service providers for eligible pole replacement costs in connection with qualified projects.

How can participatory action research be used to develop a theory of change and an evaluation framework to benefit the digital equity field? In Developing a Digital Equity Theory of Change with Tech Goes Home, our research team discovered several findings that we believe can be useful for the U.S.

GoNetspeed is on a fiber deployment spree. The fiber provider accelerated builds in the second half of 2023, with the expectation that by the end of the year it will pass more than 140,000 locations across Maine, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Alabama. In November 2023 alone, GoNetspeed announced new service availability in Portland and Rockland in Maine; Attalla, Alabama; Amherst, Massachusetts and Plymouth, Connecticut.

A Q&A with Cornell University’s Natassia Bravo and Mildred Warner, Ph.D. Americans’ increasing need for high-speed, reliable internet access has sharpened the digital divide between those who have broadband service and those who do not, and it has driven billions of dollars in federal and state investments. Although state broadband programs have successfully narrowed the divide, questions remain about the effects of state-funded programs, particularly about equity in new connections and funding targets.