Research

This report details the potential for broadband to increase economic, educational, and health care opportunities in the Black Rural South—152 rural counties with populations that are at least 35 percent Black. Key findings show:

This report was compiled in response to a directive for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “conduct a comprehensive internal assessment measuring the agency’s current efforts related to data privacy and security while separately identifying all resource-based needs of the FTC to improve in these areas." First, the report provides an overview of the FTC’s authority related to privacy and security, highlighting certain recent efforts in those areas. Second, it discusses priorities for improving the effectiveness of our efforts to protect Americans’ privacy.

Students who lacked the home internet connectivity needed to finish schoolwork while virtually learning at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic – an experience often called the “homework gap” – may continue to feel the effects in the 2021-2022 school year.

To help close the digital divide, federal programs provide funding to support broadband deployment in unserved areas. According to the Federal Communications Commission, these programs rely on data the FCC collects from broadband providers to identify which areas are and are not served to target their limited funds. This report describes the FCC's progress in developing a location fabric and the challenges stakeholders identified that the FCC faces in doing so.

In spring 2020, the US Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology hosted a series of listening sessions with state leaders—from state educational agencies, state broadband offices, state libraries, and state economic development agencies—to identify what digital equity issues were magnified as a result of school closings, what immediate actions states were taking to address these issues, and what long-term solutions were being considered to sustainably address these issues.

Efforts to close the rural/urban digital divide in Canada have reached new heights in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and “stay-at-home” policies. Yet the extent to which the rural/urban digital divide extends to pricing and demand for broadband services is not well understood. Using a dataset of more than 4700 residential survey responses from southern Ontario, Canada, we assess the disparity in pricing and willingness to pay for broadband across rural and urban households.

The largest cable and wireline phone providers in the US – representing about 96% of the market – have added about 15,400,000 subscribers over the past five years (compared to about 14,600,000 net adds over the prior five years). Top broadband providers added 8,000,000 subscribers over the past two years, including about 4,330,000 net adds over the past year, and about 3,670,000 net adds over the prior year. Net broadband additions in the second quarter of 2021, 890,000, were the most in any second quarter in the past decade, except for 2Q 2020.

As so many residential internet customers have needed to rely more heavily on their internet service provider to stay connected for work, school and entertainment, two-thirds (66%) of customer satisfaction is driven by the quality and speed of their internet connection and how the customer perceives the value of that connection, according to the JD Power 2021 US Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study. Verizon ranks highest in the East region with a score of 758 (on a 1,000-point scale), followed by Xfinity (725).

Global internet freedom declined for the 11th consecutive year. The greatest deteriorations were documented in Myanmar, Belarus, and Uganda, where state forces cracked down amid electoral and constitutional crises.

An analysis of the failure of US broadband policy to solve the rural–urban digital divide, with a proposal for a new national rural broadband plan. As much of daily life migrates online, broadband—high-speed internet connectivity—has become a necessity. The widespread lack of broadband in rural America has created a stark urban–rural digital divide. In Farm Fresh Broadband, Christopher Ali analyzes the promise and the failure of national rural broadband policy in the United States and proposes a new national broadband plan.