Research

The Federal Communications Commission completed its Report on the Future of the Universal Service Fund as required by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which instructs the FCC to submit to Congress “a report on options of the Commission for improving its effectiveness in achieving the universal service goals for broadband in light of this Act...and other legislation that addresses those goals.” The Infrastructure Act includes the largest ever federal investment in broadband, totaling approximately $65 billion.

This report examines data from the US and around the world to explore the current state of broadband in America, and the potential for an open access fiber model to create robust competition and bring about more widespread access, better service, and lower prices.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA)—in conjunction with the Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB)—released updated data on fixed broadband deployment, and mobile voice and broadband deployment as of June 30, 2021. The data includes revisions made by filers through June 28, 2022, while the mobile deployment data include revisions made by filers through November 14, 2021 These data were collected through FCC Form 477 and will be made available on the FCC’s website.

This paper presents a history of the digital divide, major steps in closing it, and how we can continue expanding access to transform lives for communities of color. To close the digital divide, policymakers should focus on: 1) further expanding access, 2) increasing adoption, and 3) encouraging skill development.

The Spectrum Innovation Act of 2022 (HR 7624) would modify and extend the authority of the Federal Communications Commission to auction licenses for the commercial use of the electromagnetic spectrum and authorize certain federal agencies to spend some auction proceeds without further appropriation. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that enacting the bill would reduce net direct spending by $2.5 billion over the 2022-2032 period. Outlays after 2032 would increase by approximately $2.4 billion.

The United States has long struggled with a health care system that is both expensive and often inaccessible when it comes to providing certain populations with equitable care. The White House and Congress acted quickly to transition patients to telehealth during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the future adoption and use of telehealth will depend on how the U.S. health care system addresses coverage and reimbursement, medical licensure, and service modalities.

Combining “cost to serve” estimates for any un- and under-served location in US with data on the number of un- and underserved we can estimate how far broadband funding might go. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program won't provide any funding where the Federal Communications Commission has committed Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support. And the National Telecommunications and Information Administration hopes to not provide 100% of the costs for new networks—I’m assuming that private capital provides 25% of the remaining necessary funding.

Since 2020, misinformation and disinformation related to election and voter suppression have continued to spread at a growing rate across online platforms. While internet platforms ramped up attempts to combat such information during the 2020 elections, many of these efforts appear to have been temporary measures. In anticipation of the 2022 US midterm elections, this report evaluates how online platforms are combating misleading election information against a selection of recommendations made by the Open Technology Institute in 2020.

In November 2021, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Black Brilliance Research Project (BBR), and Community Informatics Lab at Simmons University launched the six-city Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Fellowship. The DEAR Fellowship helped young adults, ages 19–24, learn participatory action research skills to examine and address the root causes of digital inequities in their communities. Participatory Action Research (PAR) is different from traditional research paradigms.

How quickly has broadband deployment progressed? How fast have Census blocks moved from unserved to underserved (or served)? And is there any movement in the other direction? From served areas to underserved or unserved? For the whole United States, there were 6.76 million unserved housing units in the Dec 2019 Form 477 data. 950,000 of those housing units moved to underserved in the next update for June 2020. 402,000 became served.