While the digital divide was certainly in existence prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdowns and closures exacerbated a known problem. In a recent study, the Brookings Institute estimated that 52% of low-income families in the U.S. had no broadband access at all. Additionally, the same study reported that 22% of rural college and 13% of K-12 students were without access cutting them off from learning-from-home settings.
The cost barrier to deliver connectivity to remote and under-served areas is high, whether it is laying down fiber, building wireless or FWA networks, or using another of the several solutions often poised to solve the connectivity issue. Recent federal funding has been made available to cities, states and communities in what the TIA's Melissa Newman calls a “once in a generation opportunity” to build-out networks to those most in need.
Access, however, is not the full story. Urban communities also have an affordability crisis, with the cost of broadband often too high for a household’s budget.
Fierce Telecom Podcast host Alejandro Piñero sat down with Melissa Newman, TIA’s VP for Government Affairs, to discuss the important role we as an industry play in bridging the divide, how funding is being allocated, and how everyone plays a part in working with communities to enhance access, affordability and digital literacy. Finally, they discuss the outlook in the U.S. and whether she feels optimistic about the efforts being carried out to deliver connectivity to those most in need. (Spoiler alert: she does!)
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