Op-Ed

States have a lot to think about as they determine how to prioritize investing federal broadband dollars. Every state that receives federal funding via the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act’s (IIJA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program should have the flexibility to design and implement a plan that meets its policy prerogatives.

Broadband companies are lworking with local and state leaders to bring their resources, expertise, and connections to finish the job of connecting everyone in the US to the power and opportunity of broadband. As they forge alliances to close their digital divide, several criteria are critical:

Public-private partnerships (P3s) between service providers and communities are well-established in Europe and growing in popularity across the US. The model in which a service provider desires the next-generation network but may not build, own or operate the network outright can be a great way to deliver a reliable, high-speed fiber broadband network with unlimited capacity to communities. The two standard flavors of P3s are "open:" a model in which the wholesale network is owned by a public-private entity and operates as an open-access wholesale network.

One pandemic-era program demonstrated that Chicago can solve big inequities with a spirit of partnership and the right resources. Since launching in June 2020, Chicago Connected, the country’s most comprehensive internet connectivity program for students,  has served nearly one in three CPS students — more than 100,000 students in 60,000 households. In a new report, Kids First Chicago (K1C) found the connectiv

Twenty-five years ago, on Dec.

The jokes and memes about Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase as proof of a massive midlife crisis are at least partly on point. The internet, for one, is having its own midlife crisis. And as with any midlife crisis, the internet can spiral into the abyss, continuing its own self-destructive pathway, or we can seize the moment to build a better internet founded on the essential principle that the internet belongs to all of us. Twitter isn’t just a platform. It’s how some of us live, work, and survive.

The most significant effect on political parties this year was the $16 billion estimated to have been spent on these elections, further entrenching the ability of big business and the special interests to have their way in Congress, the state houses, judgeship elections, and local community races. If we cannot find our way—very soon—to significantly reduce or eliminate the polluting and destructive power of money in our politics, democracy’s days are numbered. The US Senate is hardly poised to lead us to significant democratic reforms.

Digital inclusion and equity challenges will likely not go away until a large number of people demand change in the marketplace—and in policymaking—to make essential information and communication technologies not only available, affordable and usable, but also safe. What seems to be lacking is support for a visible social movement that complements these types of education, advocacy and networking efforts.

Airbnb recently announced that it would start offering more upfront information about prices on the platform. Until now, Airbnb has used a pricing strategy that is informally known as “drip pricing,” in which a company lures in customers by showing a low price and then tacks on fees as they go along, in the hope that customers will focus their attention on the low initial price rather than the total. An Airbnb customer who tries to book a $300 room for a night can easily end up spending $600 after fees and taxes are tacked on.

With virtually unlimited bandwidth, fiber optic connectivity is the fastest, most reliable, and most innovative solution for bridging the digital divide. Other options, like fixed wireless access, may be faster to deploy but require more upkeep, have limited capabilities, and require substantial new investment in a relatively short period.