2023 Charles Benton Broadband & Society Prize

The US is making unprecedented investments to ensure that individuals and communities have the capacity to fully participate in our society and economy via access to, and the use of, affordable information and communication technologies, such as wired and wireless broadband, internet-enabled devices, and applications and online content designed to enable and encourage self-sufficiency, participation, and collaboration. There’s an obvious and critical role for researchers to help guide this investment now and evaluate its effectiveness in the years to come. The winners of the Charles Benton Broadband & Society Prize are Natassia Bravo and Mildred Warner, both of Cornell University. They examined the question of what lessons could be learned from earlier state broadband funding approaches in relation to Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds in their State Grant Programs for Broadband: Implications for Federal Policy Design. They explored how state broadband grants were awarded in the period from 2014 to 2020 in areas likely to have lower broadband availability and adoption—often rural, low-density, and high-poverty communities. Their research provides key insights into the various funding approaches taken by states to close the broadband infrastructure gap before the pandemic and highlights important lessons for how BEAD funds may be structured. Their analysis also addresses broader implications for digital equity, raising questions about the role of states in expanding coverage and addressing the needs of rural, aging, and minority individuals, three of the eight “covered populations” that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) identifies as disproportionately experiencing digital inequity and which are to be the focus of efforts supported through grants and planning processes. They also identify the importance of state policy in supporting communities with limited capacity and supporting market expansion.

[Adrianne B. Furniss is the Executive Director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.]