Digital Discrimination: Fiber Availability and Speeds by Race and Income

The lack of broadband in many rural and Tribal communities is widely recognized, but there are also claims of a lack of broadband availability in predominantly Minority and urban communities, sometimes labeled digital redlining or digital discrimination. Motivated by such claims, the bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) includes a specific provision to address digital discrimination and the Federal Communications Commission is currently contemplating formal rules for such. The analysis aims to separate economic factors from race and income since discrimination requires differential treatment for equally profitable consumers. Through an empirical analysis of digital discrimination in fiber deployment and broadband speeds, researchers found that there exists no systematic evidence of digital discrimination by race or income level. Researchers note that such discrimination is counterproductive and costly to firms that may employ such digital redlining. Ultimately, the results point to the subsidization of broadband deployment in marginal areas--through the IIJA--as a solution to broadband availability shortfalls.