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  2. April 2020

April 2020

Broadband DATA Act and Secure 5G and Beyond Act may transform rural internet access

In the wake of trillion-dollar stimulus packages, the signing of House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta's (R-OH) Broadband DATA Act and Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2020 on March 23 received little fanfare. But the acts are likely to spur an invisible transformation for rural communities, Rep Latta said.  “The reality is, many Americans across the country and Ohioans in the district I represent who live in rural areas don’t have reliable internet connectivity.

Frontier: A Major Telecom Monopoly Fails America

Frontier Communications recently declared bankruptcy, following a history of increasingly unsustainable acquisitions. It also just missed its milestone for the Connect America Fund, which required the company to deploy obsolete 10/1 Mbps service to 80 percent of the funded locations by the end of 2019 in return for more than $1.5 billion in subsidies. Some 774,000 locations should have at least 10/1 Mbps service by the end of 2020 from a company Consumer Reports repeatedly finds to be one of the worst Internet Service Providers in the nation.

To Climb Without a Ladder

As a result of COVID-19, over 300,000 University System of Georgia students have returned home to finish their courses online. Now more than ever, I have realized the great digital divide in our state, and because of it, high-achieving students, particularly in rural Georgia, are suffering immensely. It is imperative that we all seek to use the anti-deficit perspective for the sake of students.

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