Boston Digital Equity Assessment

This study documents the rise of competitive broadband service in Boston; describes steadily increasing City efforts to close gaps in broadband affordability, devices, and skills; characterizes the remaining gaps in these areas as defined by stakeholders and available data; and makes nearterm policy recommendations to address these gaps in light of current federal funding opportunities. This report also provides a high-level estimate of the cost of building a third competitive fiber network in the City, in addition to the residential services of Comcast and Verizon. This report presents three major findings:

• High-speed wired broadband is ubiquitously available in Boston, and a new competitive dynamic has emerged with Verizon’s Fios service
• City programs were created and then expanded in recent years to address broadband gaps related to affordability, devices, and skills—but gaps remain
• Building a new City-owned fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network would cost an estimated $825 million to $961 million, depending on the number of households who elect to take service

[Prepared for the city by CTC Technology and Energy. An executive summary of the report is available here.]