Digital Divide

Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez, who was confirmed by the US Senate in September 2023, has joined calls to renew funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Nearly 23 million households nationwide rely on the program, which provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. “We are at a critical time for the program and I am dismayed that the commission finds itself with no choice but to initiate the wind down process,” said Commissioner Gomez.

In his annual letter, Bill Gates predicted that the United States is “eighteen to twenty four months away from significant levels of AI use by the general population” and that African countries are just a year or so behind that. The pace of AI development is breathtaking, with generative AI tools like ChatGPT forecast to have an adoption curve steeper than the smartphone.

The 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) examines how technologies can raise the bar for all elementary and secondary students. The 2024 NETP frames three key divides limiting the transformational potential of educational technology to support teaching and learning, including:

In comments to the Federal Communications Commission, associations representing rural broadband providers pushed back on a proposal to expand funding through the Universal Service Fund (USF) Schools and Libraries program (E-Rate) to include Wi-Fi hotspots at other sites outside of school and library buildings. Other commenters, however, said that the hotspots could connect students in low-income families, which they said should be a higher priority. The dispute began in October when the FCC adopted a Declaratory Ruling allowing E-Rate to fund school bus hotspots.

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 1,900 homes and small businesses in Cullman County, Alabama. Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion RDOF-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) RDOF auction. The company’s RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to 1.3 million customer locations across 24 states in the coming years.

A look at each state’s response to the National Technology and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program Notice of Funding Opportunity’s (NOFO) Requirement 20 on Middle-Class Affordability and Requirement 16 for a Low-Cost Broadband Service Option.  This list also provides background information on the degree of participation in BEAD by municipal, tribal, and other government-owned networks (GONs) in each state. Thirteen states have affordability strate

In a time when broadband affordability still plays a major role in the digital divide, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) meets an obvious need. Roughly two years into the program, around 23 million households are enrolled for discounted broadband and a one-time device subsidy. We should be able to consider this case closed: We now have a strong, effective mechanism for closing the affordability gap. Indeed, ACP enjoys bipartisan support, and its virtues are extolled by industry and consumer advocates alike.

The fiber broadband industry is experiencing a historic moment.

ACA Connects, in partnership with Cartesian, announced the release of “BEAD Program: A Framework to Allocate Funding for Broadband Availability – Version 4.0.” This newest version, using data from the latest National Broadband Map, estimates that when States and Territories begin to select broadband deployment projects, 6.4 million unserved and underserved locations will be eligible for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding and that the program should be able to

President Joe Biden announced that the U.S.