Amelia Bryne

The American Library Association released its new report "Keeping Communities Connected: Library Broadband Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic." Key takeaways include:

Governments can play an important role in funding broadband infrastructure deployment to ensure robust, affordable access for anchor institutions beyond what the market is able to do. Failing to take action to spur broadband deployment creates risks for the community – losing businesses, jobs, services, and population. There are several ways that governments can finance broadband deployment, including subsidies for investment, equity in public-private partnerships (PPPs), preferential tax treatment, long-term loans, on-lending loans, and guarantees to offset regulatory or political risk. One strategy that can minimize risk to the government and the provider is to fund broadband builds first to community anchor institutions (CAIs) in a region: CAIs can then serve as the “anchor tenants” to support the network’s economic viability. This strategy can ensure that schools, libraries, health providers, and other anchor institutions receive the high-capacity broadband services they need, while also providing capacity that can be shared with surrounding residential and business consumers.

[Trained in cultural anthropology and new media, Amelia Bryne is co-Director of DeepTech.org, a research consultancy that focuses on the social and environmental impacts of information and communications technologies.]

For community anchor institutions (CAIs), robust broadband connections, teamed with Wi-Fi and other wireless networking, are the essential elements of a critical infrastructure. In schools, wireless connectivity enables students and teachers to access a variety of online learning resources and pivot towards the educational models of the future that help learners develop the skills to succeed in technology-integrated workplaces. Wireless can help libraries significantly extend their public Internet access capacity and spawn new community activities. In hospitals, these networks are key to supporting wirelessly-enabled medical devices, helping staff transfer patient data and assisting families in navigating the hospital, understanding medical conditions, and obtaining support. Despite the importance of Wi-Fi and wireless networking, many CAIs do not currently have the capacity and coverage they need. The technical and human elements involved in creating and maintaining wireless networks are often more complex than meets the eye. These elements include ensuring network capacity and quality in an environment of constantly-evolving technology, complying with privacy and security regulations, assessing different technology options, addressing funding challenges, and understanding how CAI wireless networks can help meet universal service goals. This policy paper explores these core issues in detail and offers examples of successful policy interventions that have addressed these challenges. The second part of the paper suggests how policymakers at federal, state and local levels can support wireless networking in CAIs.