Benton Institute for Broadband & Society - Local/Municipal

Visions of Digital Equity Principles

benton — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 11:34:35 +0000

Digital equity—or, digital opportunity, if you prefer—is having a moment. The US is making an unprecedented investment to ensure that individuals and communities have the capacity to fully participate in our society and economy. This is a huge undertaking with momentous implications on the future of the Nation. Each state has been asked to envision how life there can be transformed by achieving digital equity. As part of their digital equity plans, states have the opportunity to illustrate how ubiquitous, affordable connectivity to reliable, high-speed broadband will benefit communities through increased access to health care, education and job training, economic growth, and civic participation. With this extraordinary opportunity before state policymakers and local communities in mind, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society launched the Visions of Digital Equity project to aid both in ensuring that more community voices are heard in crafting visions that increase opportunity for all. Through surveys, community meetings, interviews, conversations, and a collaborative writing process with community contributors, we have arrived at a set of principles to help guide both the process and the resulting visions of digital equity. We hope these principles help the residents in each state evaluate their digital equity plans.

Benton Content:

Benton Original Content

https://www.benton.org/blog/visions-digital-equity-principles

https://www.benton.org/publications/visions-digital-equity

Teaser:

We’re asking states to articulate what success looks like when we achieve digital opportunity for all.

Source:

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Author:

Adrianne Furniss

Send date:

Tue, 08/01/2023

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 7/31/2023

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

Include summary in newsletter email:

Publish Date:

Tue, 08/01/2023

Coverage Type:

Editorial

Broadband Mapping By and For Communities

benton — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 16:15:25 +0000

On Monday, September 26, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Director of Research and Fellowships Dr. Revati Prasad hosted an online panel discussion, From the Ground Up: Broadband Mapping By and for Communities, on how communities and states are collecting data on local broadband availability as the Federal Communications Commission rolls out the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) program. The panel was moderated by Dustin Loup, the Program Manager at the National Broadband Mapping Coalition, the event's co-sponsor. He framed the discussion by highlighting that inaccurate broadband deployment data has not only overestimated the percentage of U.S. households with access to broadband, it has also prevented some communities from being eligible for federal and/or state programs that subsidize broadband network buildout. Read what the panel had to say at the link below.

Benton Content:

Benton Original Content

https://www.benton.org/blog/broadband-mapping-and-communities

Teaser:

Recapping From the Ground Up: Broadband Mapping By and For Communities

Source:

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Author:

Kevin Taglang

Send date:

Mon, 10/03/2022

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 9/30/2022

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

Include summary in newsletter email:

Publish Date:

Fri, 09/30/2022

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Headlines Specific Topic:

Benton Foundation

Mapping Broadband: What Does It Mean for Service to Be “Available”?

benton — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 17:20:48 +0000

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has now given 48 states the green light to start their required Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program challenge process to refine the list of locations that will be eligible for BEAD funding. The starting point for the states is the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map, based on its Broadband Data Collection (BDC), with the state-run challenge process providing stakeholders the opportunity to make updates and corrections. The current system is stacked against parties seeking to challenge areas that are reported in the BDC as served. Even though NTIA is giving states more flexibility to develop their own ground-truth that varies from the FCC map, it still is hard to mount a successful challenge. The burden is on the challenger to present evidence that something doesn’t exist. Even though many states have adopted the option to shift the burden of proof to the reporting provider if a specified number of challenges are filed in a given area, flipping locations to “unserved” on a broad scale remains hard to do as a practical matter.

Benton Content:

https://medium.com/@CarolMattey/mapping-broadband-what-does-it-mean-for-service-…

Teaser:

Politicians at the federal, state and local level get frustrated when they hear residents are deemed “served,” and yet those people don’t feel they have broadband service available to them.

Source:

Medium

Author:

Carol Mattey

Send date:

Thu, 04/18/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/17/2024

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

Include summary in newsletter email:

Publish Date:

Wed, 04/17/2024

Coverage Type:

Op-Ed

Agenda

Federal Agency

Federal Communications Commission

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Federal Broadband Programs

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program

Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Marginalized Populations

Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

Op-Ed: Help close the broadband access divide by combating digital discrimination

zwalker@benton.org — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 20:49:39 +0000

According to the 2022 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, "digital discrimination" involves determining who gets broadband access “based on income level, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” As an example, some neighborhoods in cities get faster broadband speeds than those in poorer neighborhoods, creating a two-tiered effect. Nationally, the Federal Communications Commission has been empowered by Congress to handle digital discrimination complaints, which provides some remedy for those who find themselves on this new wrong side of the digital divide. But since the FCC must handle complaints from all 50 states, there is a real likelihood of an individual getting caught in the slow-moving bureaucracy of Washington, DC. The new infrastructure law, however, does not prohibit individual states and cities from developing their own approaches. Recently, Los Angeles became the first major US city to ban digital discrimination by expanding LA’s authority to oversee discrimination writ large. Nashville should follow LA's lead by having the Metropolitan Council enact comparable measures to combat digital discrimination. As Tennessee’s largest city, it can be a pacesetter for the state and inspire other cities to do the same.

[Stuart N. Brotman is an endowed professor of media law, enterprise and leadership at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is the author of "The First Amendment Lives On."]

Benton Content:

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/opinion/2024/04/15/opinion-how-states-and-cities-…

Teaser:

Nashville should follow Los Angeles' lead and enact measures to combat digital discrimination locally

Source:

Knox News

Author:

Stuart Brotman

Send date:

Tue, 04/16/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/15/2024

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

Include summary in newsletter email:

Publish Date:

Mon, 04/15/2024

Coverage Type:

Op-Ed

Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

Digital Divide

Federal Agency

Federal Communications Commission

Internet/Broadband

Universal Broadband

Legislation

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Level of Government

Federal

Local/Municipal

Marginalized Populations

Individuals who are Members of a Racial or Ethnic Minority Group

Low-income

As Broadband Access Lags, Cities Build Their Own Networks to Get Communities Online

zwalker@benton.org — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 17:14:58 +0000

In Fort Collins, Colorado, residents have a unique option when signing up for internet service. Instead of being limited to giant providers like Comcast, Charter or Cox, they can opt for a city-owned and operated service, called Connexion. Connexion's genesis took place about a decade ago, when the city was looking for ways to bring faster, more affordable internet to the community. In November 2017, voters approved a ballot measure to build a municipal fiber network. By 2023, Connexion was available to all homes and businesses in the area. Fort Collins is one of many cities pursuing innovative ways to bring more affordable, reliable broadband to communities. In Ammon, Idaho, the local fiber optic network is owned and operated by the city. This has benefitted private internet service providers, too, since they can use that existing infrastructure to enter the market, lowering the barrier for entry and boosting competition (and therefore reducing prices for consumers). These initiatives highlight the ways communities are bridging the gaps left by large, private internet service providers, whose services can be unaffordable or simply unavailable to many people, especially among rural, low-income and marginalized populations. For many of these communities, municipal and publicly owned networks are the only way to truly get connected. But there are obstacles. Around two dozen states have laws that ban or restrict cities from building municipal or publicly funded broadband networks. Lobbying by private internet service providers has played a significant role in maintaining those restrictions.

Benton Content:

https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/as-broadband-access-lags-cities-build-their-o…

Teaser:

Cities are stepping up to bridge the gaps left by large, private internet companies

Source:

C|Net

Author:

Abrar Al-Heeti

Send date:

Thu, 04/11/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/10/2024

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

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Publish Date:

Wed, 04/10/2024

Coverage Type:

Competition/Antitrust

Marginalized Populations

Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

ALLO Fiber overbuilds Cable One in Joplin, Missouri

zwalker@benton.org — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 21:33:12 +0000

The city of Joplin (MO), has taken broadband competitiveness into its own hands and has wooed ALLO Fiber to build a fiber network in the city that will compete against the long-time incumbent Cable One. This is bad news for Cable One. But it could also spell bad news for cable providers all over the country. For several decades cable operators have been careful to respect each other’s footprints, rather than competing against each other in many markets. And they’ve always fought hard against municipal broadband efforts, arguing that taxpayer dollars should not be used to compete with their networks, which were built with private investments. But that way of approaching broadband may be coming to an end. This deal between Joplin and ALLO is not by definition a municipal network. The network will be funded, built and operated entirely by ALLO. The city is involved because it was fed up with what it considered sub-par internet for its residents, and it put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a fiber company to enter the market.

Benton Content:

https://www.fierce-network.com/broadband/bad-news-cable-allo-fiber-overbuilds-ca…

Teaser:

Cable companies have traditionally avoided each other's footprints, but fiber builders don't care about those "gentlemen's agreements"

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Linda Hardesty

Send date:

Wed, 04/10/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/9/2024

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

Include summary in newsletter email:

Publish Date:

Tue, 04/09/2024

Coverage Type:

This Massachusetts program is giving free digital equity advice

benton — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 19:46:01 +0000

In Massachusetts a consulting program is helping local municipalities navigate digital equity planning. There is no flow of money to municipalities under said program. Instead, the Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program, spearheaded by the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), pairs towns and cities with consultants to develop strategic plans for digital equity within their communities. Among other things, the program is meant to inform a municipality of provider market conditions, challenges/barriers to internet adoption analysis and the strategies a municipality can take to increase adoption of broadband. Michael Baldino, director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, said municipalities are well positioned to understand and address the needs of their residents, take local ownership of digital inclusion activities and encourage stakeholder buy-in of strategies to address those needs. By offering technical assistance to local governments, he said, MBI is closing “a critical data and documentation gap.”

Benton Content:

https://www.fiercetelecom.com/broadband/massachusetts-program-giving-free-digita…

Teaser:

Helping local municipalities navigate digital equity planning

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Julia King

Send date:

Fri, 04/05/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/4/2024

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

Include summary in newsletter email:

Publish Date:

Thu, 04/04/2024

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

Marginalized Populations

Research

States Work to Address Barriers to Broadband Expansion

benton — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 01:22:04 +0000

As policymakers in the nation’s states and territories explore how best to spend billions of dollars in federal infrastructure money intended to expand access to broadband, a key focus has been on how to avoid a host of potential obstacles that can impede or thwart their progress. Critically, stakeholders in a majority of states repeatedly raised the same key issues. Those included concerns over the supply chain of materials to build networks, the availability of trained workers, and the capacity for organizations, small providers, and local governments to engage with complicated federal programs. One issue, however, was mentioned in virtually every plan, the perennial asterisk on every infrastructure project’s timeline: cumbersome permitting processes. State legislatures have sought solutions to permitting issues. Although the full complexity of the process for infrastructure projects cannot realistically be addressed by any single jurisdiction, important bills were signed in the past year to focus on the problem and address some frequent causes of delays.

Benton Content:

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2024/04/03/states-wo…

Teaser:

Permitting obstacles too often slow deployment of federal infrastructure dollars

Source:

Pew Charitable Trusts

Author:

Jake Varn

Send date:

Thu, 04/04/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/3/2024

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

Include summary in newsletter email:

Publish Date:

Wed, 04/03/2024

Coverage Type:

Analysis

Agenda

Upcoming policy issue

Federal Broadband Programs

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Level of Government

Local/Municipal

State

Marginalized Populations

Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

Headlines Specific Topic:

Pew

Memphis's solution to the next big digital divide

benton — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 00:38:14 +0000

What if there was a way to encourage fiber upgrades to those communities without direct government expenditures? Internet service providers (ISPs) have often complained that cities put up barriers and add costs to fiber deployment; what if cities reduced or removed those enough to change the economics and induce new fiber builds? That is exactly what Memphis (TN) has done. Only 24% of Memphis households have access to fiber, largely from AT&T. There is little indication that AT&T will expand that, leaving 76% of the city reliant only on Comcast for wired broadband. To address that divide, the city recently passed an ordinance creating incentives for private investment in fiber, so long as the investor builds in low-income areas as well as more affluent ones. The primary incentives involve waiving future right-of-way fees and expediting city processes. Based on the proposed ordinance, the city already has one private investor willing to commit to expanding fiber access to 85% of Memphis households, including a full investment in low-income areas. The city also anticipates that the effort will lead to a range of partnership arrangements among the city, philanthropy, the business community, and the new ISP to increase adoption—and therefore revenue—in low-income areas. Not only would this be a plus for the residents and the ISP, but the city anticipates the effort will also help transform city communications, public safety communications, and public services.

Benton Content:

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/memphis-tennessees-solution-to-the-next-big-d…

Teaser:

Communities still stuck with the inferior competition of cable versus DSL should study the Memphis solution.

Source:

Brookings

Author:

Blair Levin

Send date:

Thu, 04/04/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/3/2024

DD Publish Status:

Not Available

Include summary in newsletter email:

Publish Date:

Wed, 04/03/2024

Coverage Type:

Analysis

Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

Marginalized Populations

Low-income

Arkansas City to Get High-Speed Broadband Without Government Funding

zwalker@benton.org — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:37:33 +0000

The City of Cabot, Arkansas, is getting a high-speed broadband network that the city will own and that will be operated by Connect2First, the broadband unit of local power company First Electric Cooperative Corporation. Unlike many broadband buildouts these days, the network will be built without any government funding. Instead, the project will be funded via $20 million in bonds, which were approved by residents. Until recently, Arkansas municipalities were prohibited from owning broadband networks because of an old law aimed at preventing cities from competing with other entities. Construction already has begun on the network, which will serve 26,000 residents and businesses.

Benton Content:

https://www.telecompetitor.com/arkansas-city-to-get-high-speed-broadband-without…

Teaser:

The City of Cabot, Arkansas, is getting a high-speed broadband network that the city will own and that will be operated by Connect2First

Source:

telecompetitor

Author:

Joan Engebretson

Send date:

Tue, 04/02/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/1/2024