Today's broadband news
Throughout the pandemic, in-person and analog services have rapidly fallen to digital alternatives. While the digital divide has been excluding economically disadvantaged and elderly people for years, its rapid expansion is creating a new problem: The technology is often terrible. The replacement of in-person services with digital alternatives is becoming an ever-growing inconvenience for those on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel shared an update on July 1 announcing the FCC had opened its new system to collect information on where 2,500 broadband providers deliver service. Providers have until September 1 to submit data. The new federal broadband data is supposed to make up for the Form 477 flaw, or the fact that the FCC has historically relied on coverage data per census block, as submitted by internet service providers.
Broadband access is increasingly necessary for everyday activities and especially vital for businesses, remote workers, online education and health care appointments, but Empire State Development’s (ESD) New NY Broadband Program has fallen short of its mission to bring universal broadband access to New Yorkers, according to an audit by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The program was created in 2015 to make high-speed (100 megabits per second or Mbps) broadband service “universal” in all but the most remote areas of the state by 2018.
Google Fiber’s West Region General Manager Ashley Church said the company is looking to launch its service in Mesa (AZ) a city located within the Phoenix metro area. Its plan is dependent on the city council’s approval of a license agreement which will allow Google Fiber to access municipal rights of way along public highways to build its infrastructure. The proposal calls for an initial five-year license term with a renewal option.
Cleveland (OH) is seeking proposals for how to provide broadband internet to city residents through a $20 million plan funded by COVID stimulus money.
On February 23, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Notice of Inquiry related to digital redlining and how to prevent it in the future. Digital redlining is a practice in which some service providers have historically avoided providing broadband connections to certain areas, resulting in digital discrimination of some races and economic classes. Many large wireline providers have already filed comments with the FCC, including Verizon, AT&T and Lumen Technologies.
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