Pew Study Reveals Trends in State Plans to Close Digital Equity Gaps

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2024 – State digital equity plans submitted under a federal program revealed a unanimous conclusion: Availability and affordability of the Internet are the most pressing barriers to achieving universal access. 

The findings come from a review of digital equity plans submitted by 50 states and two territories conducted by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Broadband Access Initiative in preparation for federal grant awards allocated under the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act.

“From the analysis, we surfaced a few things,” said Kathryn de Wit, director of Pew’s Broadband Access Initiative, during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar on Wednesday. “The first is that unilaterally, all 52 plans said that the primary barrier to digital equity was the availability and the affordability in broadband.”