Infrastructure
Multilingual Digital Navigators Crucial For Inclusion
Digital liaisons who speak multiple languages can help guide multilingual communities for the digital future.
Digital Inclusion
The effort to ensure that all communities have access to high-speed internet and receive digital skills education. Despite years of federal, state, and local investments, millions of Americans still lack broadband access due to geographic challenges, low population density, and high infrastructure costs.
Infrastructure
Virt Seeks To Serve As The Hub To Find And Join Virtual Events
Launched last week, virt.com hopes to take advantage of the rise in virtual events by crowdsourcing them in one place.
Infrastructure
Google Wins Fair Use Case, New Texas Broadband Authority, Vetro Cares For Maine, ADTRAN Hire
April 5, 2021—The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Google on Monday morning in a copyright dispute that has spanned more than a decade, setting precedent for the fair use of programming. In a 6-2 decision (the case was heard before Justice Amy Coney Barrett had been confirmed), the Supreme Court agre
Lifeline
Matthew Johnson: Digital Divide Solution is Right Here with Lifeline. Why is No One Paying Attention?
Over the past year, COVID-19 has upended lives and livelihoods and revealed the troubling breadth and scope of the digital divide. Despite the positive turn the pandemic is taking, millions remain unemployed and struggle to pay rent and put food on the table. They cannot afford basic broadband to ap
Digital Inclusion
Starry and Non-Profit PCs for People Seek Affordable Connectivity, Affordable Devices and Digital Literacy
March 19, 2021—Broadband provider Starry Inc. and the non-profit group PCs for People launched a joint effort aimed at deploying affordable, robust, broadband coverage alongside discounted computer hardware to families living in public housing in Denver, Colorado. Starry, a fixed wireless broadband
Infrastructure
California Tech Fund Wants to Use Public Private Partnerships to Close Digital Divide
March 8, 2021 – The California Emerging Technology Fund, a nonprofit foundation focused on digital equity in the state, called on internet service providers and business leaders to form public-private partnerships to close the digital divide under President Joe Biden. “America can close the Digital
Infrastructure
Joe Supan: Why Internet Under 5 Megabits Per Second Should be Free
'Everybody ought to have access to a computer; everybody ought to have access to the internet; everybody ought to know how to use it.'
Texas
Texas Education Commissioner Says State Has Closed Digital Divide Through Access to Computers
February 23, 2021 – Texas education commissioner Mike Morath declared in January that the state “basically completely closed” the digital divide in students’ access to take-home computers. This was largely due to the massive state and local purchases amid the pandemic. Texas’ public school districts
Infrastructure
AT&T CEO John Stankey Joins Call For E-Rate Expansion To Households
February 23, 2021 – AT&T CEO John Stankey said on Tuesday afternoon that the E-Rate program that subsidizes internet for libraries and schools should be extended to homes, following a call by other leaders who say the pandemic has made this an obvious move. Stankey said the pandemic should be an opp
FCC
Federal Communications Commission Releases Proposed Rules Regarding Emergency Broadband Benefit
February 22, 2021 – Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, on Monday released proposed rules governing the implementation of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. If adopted by the agency, the program would unleash $3.2 billion of federal initiative for q
COVID
Emergency Internet Subsidy Will Aide in Closing Digital Gap in Black Communities
February 22, 2021 – Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the federal government’s emergency program that subsidizes internet service for low-income households has been a major benefit for the Black community. Starks said the program, which provides $3.2 billion over six months to
Poverty
Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Says FCC Eyes Emergency Broadband Benefit Program as a Priority Item
February 16, 2021 – Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit program is currently a top priority for the regulatory agency. The FCC has 60 days to determine how best to allocate the money from the program intended to reach “more disconnect
EBB
Biden Administration Should Approach Broadband Considering Adoption and Digital Literacy
February 12, 2021— The Biden administration has the opportunity to do what his predecessors failed to: Take a different tack on broadband that will include considering it critical infrastructure, experts say. “We have to look at [broadband] adoption and digital literacy and affordability,” said Anna
Infrastructure
Representative Pallone Says Committee Charging Through With Broadband Goals
February 10, 2021— House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said the committee he heads will be focusing on broadband expansion, affordability and adoption. He said that the committee will focus on three primary goals: Universal broadband, particularly insofar that inner-c
FCC
Expand E-Rate Program to Households: Former Head of National Telecommunication and Information Administration
February 8, 2021—The former head of the National Telecommunications Infrastructure Administration is recommending the government expand the E-Rate subsidy program, which provides discounts to access the internet, to households. The current version of the legislation only allows for the E-Rate progra
FCC
25 Years After Passage, Architects of the Telecom Act Say Congress Should Revisit the Law
February 8, 2021—On the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said that Congress should revisit the law to address modern demands for broadband and bringing service to underserved communities. The Telecom Act had many
