To entice bidders — which will be required to provide some level of free Internet service to the public — the city is offering low-cost access to existing fiber, as well as to infrastructure like light poles and storm drains. It’s also creating a Digital Infrastructure Permitting Group that will expedite permit applications associated with constructing the new networks.
For Los Angeles city leaders, the project is a crucial step in closing the gap between Internet haves and have-nots.
Our New Look Something’s different about the cover of this month’s Government Technology: We’re launching a fresh new look and logo. Although our former print nameplate served us well for nearly 30 years, Government Technology’s content now lives on an array of digital platforms that complement and extend our coverage of what matters to you — from infrastructure to civic startups and back. Our new mobile- and social-friendly logo is designed to help you find us wherever you like to read us. And it just happens to look spectacular in print too. |
Broadband equity isn’t just L.A.’s problem; it’s an issue for Chicago, Baltimore and other big cities too. Good service may be available, but it’s unaffordable for too many individuals and families. City leaders around the nation are searching for ways to bridge the gap.
At a more basic level, rural areas of the country still struggle to get any high-speed connectivity at all. The FCC recently estimated that about half of residents living in rural America simply can’t get the advanced broadband service that many of us in metropolitan areas take for granted.
Here, too, officials are looking for ways to expand crucial connectivity. Kentucky, for instance, recently kicked off a $324 million public-private initiative to spread high-speed Internet across the state, which currently ranks 47th in broadband availability.
Announcing the project last year, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear called high-speed connectivity “as essential to a community as water or electricity” — and he’s right. Given how important fast and affordable Internet access is to our economic success, educational achievement and overall quality of life, it’s tragic that so many Americans still lack a good connection to the online world.
In this issue, we ask experts from government, the private sector and nonprofits how to eliminate the broadband gap. Answering that question is both a matter of fairness and a key to our future success.