The National Broadband Plan at 10: A decade of lessons on increasing home broadband adoption

The 10^th Anniversary of the National Broadband Plan offers a chance to reflect on the progress made in the past 10 years and lessons for the future. My focus will be on the progress in addressing the digital divide – increasing the number of Americans with broadband at home. The National Broadband Plan’s guiding principles for broadband adoption still resonate:

• Focus on the barriers to adoption: Successful efforts address multiple barriers to adoption simultaneously.
• Focus on broadband in the home: That is critical to maximizing utilization, without neglecting libraries and other community anchors that offer connectivity.
• Promote connectivity across an entire community: This takes advantage of network effects that arise when people communicate with those nearby.
• Plan for changes in technology: This ensures that community technology programs serve clients with up-to-date technology and applications.