February 2025

The Cost of Overbuilding

Some big internet service providers have big plans for more fiber expansion. AT&T, for example, plans to build 21 million fiber passings to meet a goal of 50 million passings by the end of 2029. I’ve followed AT&T’s expansion in various communities, and the company has built fiber over the last five years where the cost to do so was the lowest, so this expansion plan perplexes me. It seems to me that for AT&T to meet its target of 50 million passings it is now willing to spend more per passing than in the past.

Broadband Coalition Launches Plan to Bridge the Digital Divide and Expand Opportunity in Rio Grande Valley

The Rio Grande Valley Broadband Coalition unveiled the RGV Broadband and Digital Opportunity Plan, a bold initiative to ensure every home, business, and community anchor institution in the region has access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. Much of the RGV still lacks reliable internet access, holding the region back in a world that increasingly depends on digital tools. The RGV Broadband and Digital Opportunity Plan is a roadmap to change that, focusing on:

How telehealth could offset the cost of the Affordable Connectivity Program

We’re creeping closer to the one-year mark since the federal government axed the Affordable Connectivity Program due to lack of funding, which left over 23 million low-income households without affordable internet. But folks didn’t just lose the $30/month subsidy and a reliable broadband connection.

Analysis

Investing in the Human Infrastructure of Broadband

Earlier this year, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society published The Human Infrastructure of Broadband: Looking Back, Looking Around, and Looking Ahead, highlighting how investment in the physical infrastructure of broadband—fiber-optic cables, etc—may not meet its full potential if we do not also invest in the human infrastructure of broadband—the necessary social and relational complement to the work of building physical infrastructure.

Sponsor 

Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition

Date 
Wed, 02/26/2025 - 13:00

This webinar will review the data and provide real world examples of how hotspots can bring affordable internet access to families in need.