Data & Mapping

The federal government is slated to pump a record amount of funding into projects to expand Internet access and affordability.

The federal government launched the Emergency Broadband Benefit in February 2021 to provide low-income households with a $50 monthly discount on their internet bill as part of a multi-pronged approach to reduce the digital divide, which is a function of both access to a wired high-speed internet service provider and the affordability of service. According to the Universal Service Administrative Company, enrollment in the Emergency Broadband Benefit reached 7.1 million households in November 2021 (up from 6.1 million in October).

This Task Force seeks to address the digital divide with recommendations that will advise the federal government on ways it can improve access, specifically on rural, agricultural lands. Broadband is the foundational element for all other issues. The recommendations fall largely within five primary categories with some additional key considerations. The five main priorities that the Task Force recommends are to:

States differ in how they manage broadband deployment and which agencies or offices they task with identifying challenges, charting goals, and encouraging investment. Some states have a centralized office responsible for managing or coordinating broadband efforts. In others, multiple agencies have jurisdiction over broadband. More than half of states have established dedicated funds to support the deployment of high-speed internet, and many have developed goals, plans, and maps for expansion of access.

Washington is finally tackling one of the biggest obstacles to closing the nation’s digital divide: identifying the broadband dead zones where millions of Americans lack fast internet service. But that’s coming too late for the broadband gold rush of 2021. States and cities are already allocating more than $10 billion in federal pandemic relief to get broadband into underserved communities — the biggest government investment ever toward increasing internet connectivity.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel sent letters to 20 senators on November 10, 2021, in response to their letter urging the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the FCC to share existing data to identify communities without high-speed internet access and improve broadband connectivity.

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill recently signed by President Biden aims to help alleviate the problem by setting aside $65 billion for investment in broadband. According to Kathryn de Wit, project director for the Broadband Access Initiative at the Pew Charitable Trusts, the package is a "significant down payment" in getting underserved households connected — in part because it also leant on the Federal Communications Commission to better determine exactly who lacked high-speed internet access.

Since the Emergency Broadband Benefit launched in May 2021, enrollment has grown steadily. By the end of June, 3.1 million households had enrolled, a figure that rose to 7.4 million by the beginning of November. Analysis of the geography of this growth shows that it was not evenly distributed. South Florida, Detroit, Chicago, and New York City have all seen very strong growth in enrollment since June. In the Los Angeles area, more than 100,000 additional households have signed up since then.

Among the $65 billion allocated to broadband in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the Act), $42.45 billion will be used to fund a last-mile broadband development grant program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The scale of this investment is unlike anything seen before in US history.