Research

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program's Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) includes workforce development as a critical component of state plans and applications for funding—and appropriately so, as creating good jobs and developing the broadband workforce necessary to deliver on this historic investment is a critical first step for any state or territory seeking to expand broadband to its unserved and underserved residents.

The University of Missouri (UM) System's Digitally Connected Community Guide is a collection of tools and resources that communities can use to become digitally connected. Communities that are digitally connected have access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet service and use internet-based technologies and applications to improve the health, education, and economic opportunities for everyone in the community. The Guide uses a five-step plan, informed by an online workshop, to bring high-speed internet to unserved Missouri communities.

North America is forecast to lead the world in 5G subscription penetration in the next five years with nine-of-every-ten subscriptions in the region expected to be 5G in 2027. The forecast is contained in the June 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report, which also predicts that current global 5G subscriptions will pass the one billion milestone by the end of 2022. 5G is also forecast to account for almost half of all subscriptions by 2027, topping 4.4 billion subscriptions. The report reveals that global mobile network data traffic doubled in the past two years.

To aid state and local policymakers, this report offers an engineering analysis of fixed-wireless technologies and their suitability for delivering broadband service in various environments. The report addresses a range of critical technology and cost considerations related to fixed-wireless networks—and, as a point of comparison, to fiber-to-the-premises networks. At a high level, the report concludes the following:

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar released the initial 2022 Texas Broadband Plan on June 15. The new broadband plan, from Texas' Broadband Development Office (BDO) outlines the state's goals for improving broadband access and affordability. Most notably, Fierce reports, the BDO aims to develop a statewide broadband map by January 2023.

This paper documents home Internet access, types of Internet access, connection speeds, and prices for basic home Internet in tribal areas of the United States. It finds that the share of households with Internet access is 21 percentage points lower in tribal areas than in neighboring non-tribal areas.

YouTube videos viewed by children do not reflect the ethnic diversity of young children, tweens, and teens across the United States. In videos watched by young children, portrayals of BIPOC characters are disproportionately negative when compared to White characters. In videos watched by 0- to 8-year-olds, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) character portrayals were shallow or missing almost three-quarters of the time.

The digital divide is a persistent feature in the United States. While most Americans have access to some form of broadband internet connection, the bandwidth, quality of service (QoS), and choice of providers remain highly variable throughout the country. For example, while the residents of many urban areas can choose between gigabit fiber, cable, or digital subscriber line connections from multiple providers, residents in rural areas often suffer from limited platform and provider choices. A fundamental problem with developing effective public policy for broadband in the U.S.

This paper uses data on broadband connections and the production and sales of agricultural products to empirically estimate the impact of improved connectivity on U.S. farming outcomes. The Federal Communications Commission has detailed data on broadband subscriptions from its semi-annual Form 477 collection.

This paper investigates whether the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), implemented as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) had a positive impact on farm productivity, defined as farm sales per farm employment, in the counties that received any BIP funding. The effect of BIP on the growth of farm sales was examined for the 2008–2010, 2008–2011, 2008–2012 and 2008–2013 periods.