Coronavirus and Connectivity
Universal connectivity is still the goal. We need to keep working on long-term solutions.
Coronavirus has caused a seismic shift in everything about life as we know it. Schools, businesses, and non-essential entities are closed indefinitely. As fear and economic uncertainty escalate, so does the need for information. Students have been forced into remote learning programs regardless of whether they are equipped. Before COVID-19, many did not have the requisite tools to complete assignments at home. Now, some of those students, who were already at a disadvantage, will spend the remainder of the school year using smartphones to comply with remote learning mandates.
Congress and FCC Can Keep Students Online
Congress and the Federal Communications Commission should act swiftly to ensure that all our school-aged children are online and continue learning during the coronavirus pandemic. Keeping students safe and connected during this challenging time is essential to our society’s well-being. Urgent and effective action is required, and the existing E-rate funding program is the most viable solution to meet the need. Congress should immediately:
For some, coronavirus pushes new issues to top of national agenda
The coronavirus pandemic is helping shift policy priorities for some Americans. School closures and remote work across the country are showcasing how inequities in access to high-speed broadband can impact access to education and work during a time of crisis.
AT&T Increasing Mobile Hotspot Data by 15GB
Starting April 2 through May 13 we’re giving AT&T mobility consumers and small businesses more ways to connect:
How COVID-19 is proving the urgency of delivering universal broadband
The COVID-19 pandemic has put the consequences of America’s “digital divide” on full display. This dire situation makes clear the need for universal rural broadband. To finally deliver on this promise, we need an effort on the scale of the Rural Electrification Act (REA), passed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the depths of the Depression to power farms and small towns out of poverty. We must pass a 21st century version of that act, one that equips local communities with the resources they need to bring connectivity to the last mile of rural America.
FCC Will Seek Distance-Learning Dollars from Hill
The Federal Communications Commission was looking for money from Congress for remote education in the COVID-19 aid bill that passed recently, but didn't get it. An FCC official signaled on background March 30 that it is not giving up. The FCC official said to look for the FCC to renew the funding pitch for the next round of COVID-19 aid that is almost surely coming. He also cited the efforts Internet service providers are taking on their own dime, including offering free service to low-income residents with school-age children currently lacking home broadband.
The Homework Chasm
Communities across the nation are working hard to address the issue of connectivity for students. But we need a national approach, not an ad-hoc strategy.
NDIA Executive Director Angela Siefer On COVID-19 Stimulus: More Action Needed to Connect Millions of Households
On March 27 President Donald Trump signed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act to offset the economic impact of the pandemic and the public health response to it.
Chairman Pai Announces Plan for $200 Million COVID-19 Telehealth Program
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced his plan for a COVID-19 Telehealth Program to support health care providers responding to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As part of the CARES Act, Congress appropriated $200 million to the FCC to support health care providers’ use of telehealth services in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. If adopted by the FCC, the Program would help eligible health care providers purchase telecommunications, broadband connectivity, and devices necessary for providing telehealth services.
The Broadband Lifeline in a Pandemic: Strategies for Provisioning Broadband to Temporary Emergency Sites
I’ll describe a way for your community to meet ar critical need – service to ad hoc emergency sites like surge hospital locations, triage centers, and even parking lots where mass testing or treatment may occur. And there will be a need for service to other ad hoc locations, like temporary housing sites for emergency and health care workers or national guard personnel. All of these will require broadband, fast, both for public needs and to support first responders and health care workers.