Research

As broadband becomes more and more important for students to be successful, we need to know how differences in availability affect their achievement. How do some students’ achievements compare to their more well-off peers with fancy 1 gigabit fiber connections? Suppose we could randomly build out fiber-optic broadband to different parts within a neighborhood and then compare a student’s test scores before and after fiber became available to the students that didn’t get access.

The Building a New Digital Economy (BAND-NC) initiative was announced in February 2020 to address the challenges of broadband adoption across North Carolina, and to spark long-term planning efforts to bridge the digital divide.

Until recently, the only source for broadband availability data was the Form 477 data collected (since 2014) by the Federal Communications Commission. These data are collected by the FCC from broadband providers at the census block level (averaging about 20 homes). Under an “all-in” assumption, a census block is deemed to have broadband (at a specified speed threshold) if a provider serves (or could serve in a few months) a single location within the block. This assumption tends, of course, to overstate broadband availability.

The Federal Communications Commission estimates it will take between $397 billion and $478 billion to reach all underserved locations. It’s worth remembering there are only two numbers at play: the number of locations that don’t have access to 100/20 broadband service, and the average cost to bring fiber-to-the-home service to those locations. I estimated 23.1 million un- and underserved locations. The FCC study estimated 45.5 million, or 32% of all United States housing units. The second part of the equation is the cost to serve the average unserved or underserved location.

With US cable broadband subscriber growth remaining flat or going negative, operators are hard-pressed to find a remedy that will rekindle growth in a service category now considered central to the overall business.

Broadband usage patterns of participants in the Federal Communications Commission's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) are significantly exceeding those of the broader connected population, according to initial results contained in the second quarter 2022 OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report. Data from several thousand ACP households during 2Q22 has revealed the following:

The Ensuring Phone and Internet Access Through Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Program Act (H.R. 4275) would require the Federal Communications Commission to report to Congress annually on enrollment in its Lifeline program and its Affordable Connectivity Program, disaggregated by how applicants qualify for support. For example, Lifeline applicants may qualify based on prior enrollment in Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or the Supplemental Security Income program.

The lack of broadband in many rural and Tribal communities is widely recognized, but there are also claims of a lack of broadband availability in predominantly Minority and urban communities, sometimes labeled digital redlining or digital discrimination. Motivated by such claims, the bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) includes a specific provision to address digital discrimination and the Federal Communications Commission is currently contemplating formal rules for such.

Analysis demonstrates that philanthropic organizations in the US have given little--less than 1% of overall giving by large foundations--to digital equity funding. Funding barriers may be overcome with greater participation of US institutional philanthropic giving to digital equity. Other key takeaways include: