Research

In their 2021 State of the State addresses, at least 40 Governors highlighted the importance of broadband infrastructure and the interconnections with remote learning and telemedicine. These are critical to closing equity gaps and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis. Expanding the physical infrastructure of the internet is only part of the challenge of extending access and connectivity to broadband services across the country.

With the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, internet infrastructure was brought to the forefront as a pressing need. The demands of large-scale work from home, school from home, accelerated e-commerce, telehealth, and even family gatherings pushed more of our lives online and exponentially increased demands on internet infrastructure to unprecedented levels and strained capacity in unanticipated ways. This demand also helped shift the real estate industry itself from thinking just in terms of physical space to also considering how to engage within a virtual environment.

This report explores broadband and computer connectivity in Philadelphia, with a special focus on connectivity since the COVID-19 pandemic. Notable findings include:

This article examines the roles and consequences of different approaches to 5G market design for innovation. The analysis is grounded in a conceptual framework that explicitly considers the complementarities among networks, applications, and services. Good policy arrangements align the legal and regulatory framework with the technical and economic characteristics of the sector and the broader, social visions for new technologies.

GAO conducted a technology assessment on (1) the availability of quantum computing and communications technologies and how they work, (2) potential future applications of such technologies and benefits and drawbacks from their development and use, and (3) factors that could affect technology development and policy options available to help address those factors, enhance benefits, or mitigate drawbacks. GAO identified four factors that affect quantum technology development and use: collaboration, workforce size and skill, investment, and the supply chain.

This study, commissioned by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and led by a researcher from Harvard Business School, assesses the impact of the internet on US gross domestic product (GDP). Key findings:

Due to rapid technological changes, governments in developing countries have paid special attention to sustainability. However, understanding insights into the sustainability of telecentres remains an open question (Editor's note: telecentres are public places where people can access computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies). This paper aims to fill this gap. We conducted a case study analyzing the sustainability of telecentres in Vietnam.

US carriers have further expanded their 5G coverage using their low band 5G networks. However, the largest and most notable improvement was driven by the expansion of mid-band 5G. AT&T and Verizon are about to receive the first tranche of C-band spectrum (3.7–3.98 GHz) — which will be released in December 2021, and have made plans already to deploy their own mid-band 5G and follow the path T-Mobile pioneered with the deployment of its 2.5 GHz spectrum. 

Across the world, millions of people are still unable to access the internet and participate online — and women are disproportionately excluded. Men are 21 percent more likely to be online than women globally, rising to 52 percent in Least Developed Countries. Various barriers prevent women and girls from accessing the internet and participating online, including unaffordable devices and data tariffs, inequalities in education and digital skills, social norms that discourage women and girls from being online, and fears around privacy, safety, and security.

The 2021 BKD Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study is unique in that it has data from 170 rural telecommunications companies in 18 states. Every year the BKD study provides an in-depth look at how the rural telecommunications industry has performed. This year we look at the impact of 20 years of broadband services. The biggest takeaways from the 2021 Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study are: