Digital Divide

Delaware will build on its existing fiber network and a successful wireless broadband pilot with a Request For Proposals (RFP) aimed at eliminating so-called “broadband deserts” over the next 24 months. Gov. John Carney (D-DE) announced that the state will release an RFP in August seeking private-sector partners to expand wireless broadband in rural Kent and Sussex counties, and in “desert” areas.

Patchwork broadband service in urban centers often goes overlooked, given the pervasive lack of access in many rural counties, but affects “virtually equal numbers of people” in states like Ohio, said one digital equity advocate. Bill Callahan, who runs a Cleveland-based nonprofit working to expand low-income broadband access and serves as policy director for the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, made the observation during a digital equity panel July 23 at Next Century Cities’ Regional Broadband Summit in Pittsburgh.

[Commentary] The digital age and its applications has the potential to eliminate density and geographic proximity requirements, that were so critical during the industrial age. It is possible then, in the digital age, for a rural community to maintain its “rural” feel and continue to leverage its natural amenities while taking advantage of what only dense urban areas enjoyed last century.

[Speech] The primary focus of my remarks will be the primary focus of my chairmanship since day one: closing the digital divide in order to make sure everyone can benefit from the Internet revolution. To date, I’ve visited roughly 90 cities in 33 states in the US, driving more than 8,500 road miles

Lawmakers sparred over ways to bring more investment to rural broadband services. Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said government needs to complement private investment not compete against it.

Despite being awash in tech start-ups and the latest innovations, San Francisco has a surprising lack of connectivity. As many as 1 in 8 people  — more than 100,000 residents — don’t subscribe to home Internet, city officials say. To close that digital divide, the local government has come up with an entrepreneurial solution: Build a high-speed network of its own that could compete with the likes of AT&T and Comcast. If the estimated $1.9 billion proposal is approved, San Francisco would become the biggest U.S.

The cost to deploy fiber to unserved US rural areas is about $61 billion, said Jim Stegeman, president of CostQuest Associates, an economic consultancy that specializes in telecommunication. CostQuest created the cost model used to determine broadband deployment costs for the Connect America Fund (CAF) subsidy program. The $61 billion estimated cost to deploy fiber to unserved U.S. rural areas is based on deploying GPON fiber-to-the-premises technology and does not include ongoing operational costs. Stegeman is the co-author, along with Steve G.

The full House Commerce Committee has scheduled a markup for more than a dozen bills July 12, including two broadband-related bills -- H.R. 3994, the Advancing Critical Connectivity Expands Service, Small Businesses Resources, Opportunities, Access, and Data Based on Assessed Need and Demand (ACCESS BROADBAND) Act, and H.R. 4881, the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act of 2018.

In 2016, Libraries Without Borders established the Wash and Learn Initiative (WALI) to expand the access and accessibility of information to families waiting for their clothes to wash and dry in laundromats. This article discusses the private-public partnerships between small, mom-and-pop laundromat businesses and library branches that have made this work possible. For our laundromat partners, we have heard that WALI libraries provide them with a direct means to give back to their communities.