Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Investment in Broadband Infrastructure Can Create Cost Savings and Community Self-Empowerment

Building new broadband infrastructure is a big investment for any municipality. While the cost of that investment shouldn’t be overlooked, it’s equally important to consider the significant cost savings that can be reaped with publicly owned infrastructure. Many cities have slashed the cost of connecting their schools to broadband by opting to build their own infrastructure, instead of continuing to pay a private provider for connections. Portland (OR), for example, had been paying an incumbent provider $1,310 per month for  10 Mbps connections to schools.

Mark Zuckerberg and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day on Capitol Hill

Sixty different politicians had five minutes each to grill Zuckerberg about whatever they wanted, and they jumped at the opportunity to try and test him. Congress came across as prepared, serious, and thoughtful. While the hearing was supposed to be about Facebook’s push to create a new digital currency called Libra, about half of the back and forth centered on other topics, from its controversial political ads policy to Facebook’s record on diversity to particular congresspeople’s pet

News (Of Sorts) From the FCC

Two stories from the Federal Communications Commission caught our eye this week. One gained lots of headlines. The second is a bit of inside baseball but could turn out to be big news down the line. Both impact the deployment of broadband and closing the digital divide. FCC commissioners have voted to approve T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint.

Connecting Communities with High-Performance Broadband

Based on what we’ve learned, we’ve formulated three basic broadband principles for community anchor institution policy.

Engagement on Equity: Connectivity and the Future of Healthcare

Bridging the digital divide can help address our nation’s persistent health disparities. Rural Americans not only face limited access to health-care facilities, but “suffer from higher rates of obesity, mental health issues, diabetes, cancer, and opioid addiction.” But the tie that also binds is the lack of high-speed broadband connectivity in low-income communities, too. Rural America, as you know, is facing a physician shortage and low-income and rural populations are less likely to have choice when it comes to broadband providers.

3500 Days of The National Broadband Plan

In early 2009, Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to develop a National Broadband Plan with a functional objective to ensure every American has “access to broadband capability.” Now, with just 165 days left before the National Broadband Plan was to meet the plan’s original stated objectives, I explore some of the key components and objectives of the plan. Ten years is a great deal of time in the telecommunications realm, and it is true that the plan asked a great deal of the FCC from the very start.

Libraries and Schools Join Hands to Connect New Mexico Pueblos

On October 30, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society will be releasing Broadband for America's Future: A Vision for the 2020s. The release is a major step in a multi-year effort to update America’s approach to broadband access for the coming decade. Over the last year or so, we've been speaking with people around the country about how communities are addressing their broadband needs.

Another New Beginning for Net Neutrality

Finally, after months of anticipation, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released its decision in the latest net neutrality case. The court has tied the issue up in a nice bow and we can all stop worrying and arguing over it now. Let's turn our attention to playoff baseball!  If only. In the hours and days since the D.C.

Members of Congress Respond to Net Neutrality Decision

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA): “The Trump Administration’s decision to abandon net neutrality continues to harm consumers and small businesses, leaving a few large corporations in control of an essential component of modern life.  In April, the House passed the Save the Internet Act to restore basic consumer protections online and preserve a free and open Internet.

More Reaction to Net Neutrality Decision

Gigi Sohn, Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Senior Fellow & Public Advocate:  "The DC Circuit Court has spoken very clearly --  the states are now free to do what the FCC will not –- assert authority over the broadband market and protect an open Internet. Broadband providers will inevitably complain about having to comply with a so-called 'patchwork' of different state laws, but that is of their own making.