Universal Broadband

While selecting me as 2020’s recipient of the Savas Award could fairly be called into question, your timing of this celebration could not be more perfect.

With nearly 1,000 rural Latino communities spread across the country, rural internet access has long been a priority for Latinos. But the past eight months have created a new sense of urgency. Recently, 19 national organizations representing communities of color, many of them Latino, recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission.  While the details are complicated, the outcome is not: expanding high-speed internet would be faster and more affordable, benefitting Latino families in rural communities across America.

AT&T CFO John Stephens said that adding more fiber was about more than just passing additional homes. "I think about the fiber being part of my core transport network, and serving business customers and connecting to large business customers and small business customers, and then I think of it as an opportunity to connect the homes," he said. "So I have a three-for-one in this integrated carrier environment that really gives me a different opportunity than others. When I say three-for-one, that's three revenue opportunities, as well as a really efficient cost structure.

We’re not going back to broadband circa 2019. Every aspect of life is going to have a significant virtual component from here on. That’s the lesson we’ve learned in 2020 about the use of broadband networks by people in their homes. Residential broadband access has become crucial to work and learn, to schedule and attend remote visits with a doctor, and to remain connected with family and friends—especially with multiple members of the household online at the same time.

President-elect Joe Biden and top congressional Democrats are laying the groundwork to seek a massive increase in federal broadband spending in 2021, hoping they can secure billions of dollars in new government aid to improve Internet access and affordability — and help people stay online during the pandemic. Party leaders are mulling a wide array of proposals that would extend the availability of broadband in hard-to-reach rural areas, raise Internet speeds for American households, assist families who are struggling to pay their Internet bills and provide more funding to schools for comput

Broadband companies can improve regional economic development, though positive effects vary depending on local and state contexts, said experts during a National Telecommunications and Information Administration webinar. Lauren Mathena, director of economic development and community engagement with the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation (MBC), spoke on how MBC allows Internet service providers to connect to its 1,900-mile fiber network in southern Virginia.

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs passed the Bridging the Tribal Digital Divide Act of 2020. The bill would expedite the deployment of affordable broadband service on Tribal lands by coordinating and improving the effectiveness of federal resources. Specifically, the bill would:

Hawai‘i has released an updated strategic plan that aims to achieve digital equity across the islands by strengthening broadband infrastructure and programs. The Hawai‘i Broadband Strategic Plan 2020 offers what state officials say is a fresh look at ways to boost broadband connectivity at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is showing how important it is for education, health and economic prosperity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on Montana’s widening digital divide. Working from home, online school and telehealth have all become pandemic necessities, but many Montanans don’t have access to adequate broadband internet. Cooperatives across the state said that the digital divide doesn’t exist solely between urban and rural Montana like many people believe. “Yes, there is a digital divide in Montana,” said Jason Williams, CEO of Blackfoot Communications in Missoula.

Our failure to create inclusive policies that close the digital divide has done serious harm to the Americans who were already struggling to put food on their tables prior to the pandemic. The failures of our past, however, do not have to dictate the future. It is time—in fact, it is past,time—for the tech and telecom sector to take account for issues of equity and fairness.