Monday, August 12, 2024
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Increasing Broadband Availability, Accessibility, and Affordability for the Benefit of All Utahns
How States and Districts Can Close the Digital Divide To Increase College and Career Readiness
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Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program money may be enough to connect most folks to 100/20 Mbps, but those speeds likely won’t cut it by the end of the decade, said Connect Humanity’s Brian Vo. We’ve heard from the White House that the BEAD Program will help connect everyone in the country to reliable and affordable high-speed internet by 2030. The task is nothing if not ambitious, but the big question is whether the allotted $42.5 billion can get us there. The overall capital required to provide gigabit fiber-to-the-home to every citizen falls somewhere between $120-$200 billion, said Vo. “BEAD, if you include the capital match of 25% [that] gets you in the $50 to $60 billion range, so there’s already a capital gap there,” he said. If $60 billion is enough, the assumption is that the goal is to provide speeds of 100/20 Mbps and that this target is “sufficient.” Bandwidth consumption, however, has been on the rise for the last 15 years, and is unlikely to go down.
The relationship between broadband and other priorities for Utahns—such as employment, education, health, civic engagement, technology innovation, and entrepreneurship—is undeniably important and will only become increasingly so. Broadband infrastructure deployment and adoption are key components for accomplishing economic growth, accelerating educational innovation, expanding access to health care, and increasing personal connection. The State of Utah wants to ensure every resident has access to reliable and affordable broadband internet to enhance their quality of life. Utah's goal is to strategically use Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds in conjunction with other state, federal, educational, or non-profit programs to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to narrow and close the digital divides in the state. According to the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Map, there are still approximately 41,559 unserved locations (with available speeds less than 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload) and 28,108 underserved locations (with available speeds less than 100 Mbps download/20 Mbps upload) throughout Utah as of October 24, 2023. These unserved locations are primarily rural and, the Utah Broadband Center posits, are arguably the most expensive to build and maintain. One key reason for Utahns not subscribing to broadband service is affordability.
Across the country, educators are finding innovative ways to integrate technology into their curricula. Students from marginalized communities often don’t have the chance to engage with technology in meaningful ways, and instead are limited to passive uses of technology that lack rigor and present little opportunity for students to further develop their digital skills. Sometimes this divide stems from a lack of access to devices, but even students who have access often lack the adequate knowledge to utilize devices, and their teachers are typically not adequately trained to embed technology into their curricula in meaningful ways. This issue brief highlights resources that states and districts can access to work toward closing the digital divide and presents a case for future policymaking that prioritizes proactively addressing technological advancements to strengthen ed tech, ultimately increasing college and career readiness.
In October 2020, 55% of Americans teleworked; 16 months later, in January 2022, full-time telework dropped to 43%, and by October 2023, full-time telework rates had decreased to 35%. Current data, however, indicate that about one-third of Americans are working a hybrid schedule, alternating days at the office with days at home (or away). These trends offer benefits to rural spaces where robust broadband capabilities can support a wide range of telework experiences. Fortuitously, these trends coincide with increasing rates of broadband adoption. Household income (which translates into affordability) remains the single largest barrier to adoption. Strategies to address affordability, particularly where that might stand in the way of telework, can have far reaching community and economic impacts. Encouraging data from a variety of sources supports efforts to promote telework capabilities.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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