Big Tech companies shouldn't have to pay for Internet service providers' network-upgrade costs, a Google executive said amid a push in Europe to have tech companies pay for broadband expansions and improvements. In November 2021, the CEOs of 13 large European telecommunications companies called on tech giants to pay for a portion of the Internet service providers' network upgrade costs. "Large and increasing part of network traffic is generated and monetized by big tech platforms, but it requires continuous, intensive network investment and planning by the telecommunications sector," the telecom CEOs wrote in a joint letter. EU regulators are taking the idea seriously, as the EU's executive body will launch a consultation in early 2023 on whether tech giants should bear some of the costs of Europe's telecoms network. The idea drew protest from 54 members of the European Parliament (MEPs), stating, "Large telecom companies have tried for decades to require compensation from content providers for providing access to customers, despite the fact that the telecom companies are already being paid by their own customers to provide access." Letting broadband providers collect these payments "would reverse decades of successful Internet economics by requiring the providers of websites and applications to pay fees to broadband providers that have never existed before," and "abolish key net neutrality guarantees that Europeans fought hard for," the letter said.

More than 206,000 Chicago households (approximately 17%) don’t have internet at home, and over 115,000 (roughly 10%) don’t have a computer. Over the past two years, Chicago has made historic progress in tackling digital disparities. Despite this progress, there is still work to be done to address the racial and economic disparities behind the digital divide. Communities with the lowest rates of internet connectivity are also those where more than 88% of residents are Black, and where the average median household income is less than $30,000. The City of Chicago seeks ideas on how the private sector, philanthropic foundations, and non-profits can leverage City real estate assets and Chicago Recovery Plan resources to ensure every household has an affordable, quality broadband option that meets their needs. Specifically, Chicago seeks to:

1. Identify how City resources (including real estate assets and Chicago Recovery Plan funds) can be made available to increase affordable residential broadband connectivity
2. Identify creative solutions and potential purpose-aligned partner organizations
3. Design initiatives that use federal and state funds to increase broadband connectivity

Older adults and people with disabilities cannot equitably access the same health information and care as people without disabilities when hospital websites are not accessible. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) found the following key insights relating to digital accessibility and its importance to older Americans:

• Hospitals and health care systems in the U.S. need continuing education on the role of web accessibility in American Disability Act (ADA) compliance given the significance of newly issued federal guidance.

• The home pages of most top U.S. hospitals have many accessibility errors and are not compliant with current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) criteria.

• Older adults and patients with disabilities face barriers to accessing their health information electronically; many have struggled to use a hospital website or patient portal.

• Multisectoral collaboration, including user-based testing with patients with disabilities and older adults, is needed to improve digital accessibility in the healthcare ecosystem.

Ultimately, AHIMA believes it is imperative that all health care organizations consider the broad diversity of users’ functional needs when developing and maintaining digital media.

Comcast recently announced it is introducing a 2-gigabit download broadband product. Along with faster download speeds, Comcast is claiming new upload speeds of as much as 200 Mbps – at least for the 2 Gbps plan. The company made it sound like all upload speeds would be increased by five to ten times the existing speeds. Interestingly, the same announcement said that Comcast would be introducing DOCSIS 4.0 in 2023, at least for some business customers. That’s an announcement that has me scratching my head. Comcast just announced a successful test for DOCSIS 4.0 in January of 2022. To be able to go from a lab prototype to production units in less than two years would be extraordinary. Comcast could hold a field trial of the new technology in 2023. Cable companies are sensitive about the marketing advantage that faster upload speeds give to fiber and even to slower technologies like fixed wireless access (FWA) cellular. It’s hard to know if the Comcast announcement foreshadows big improvements next year or was just a way to signal to Wall Street that cable companies are working towards improved bandwidth.