Digital Equity

Nationally, 13.4 percent of rural households lack the minimum necessary broadband connection for streaming educational videos or virtual classrooms, according to the National Rural Education Association.

Plus, Maryland to put $27 million toward getting Internet devices for residents of underserved households, Colorado releases a new broadband workforce plan, and more.

Altafiber has spent $2.3 million of a $10 million contract with Butler County to connect residents to high-speed Internet. Officials say around 20,000 people will be online by the end of the year.

Through October 2023, only 296,000 households of the more than 1.1 million eligible in the state have enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program, according to the White House.

The University of Southern California is developing Wi-Fi technology that will allow hearing-impaired students to tune into lectures and other campus events with their smartphones or receivers provided by the university.

Boyd, Carter and Rowan counties are among the counties to benefit from a $30.7 million project to expand broadband access to approximately 33,000 households across 16 counties and 196 communities.

Plus, support for continued ACP funding continues to grow; the FCC adopted final rules on digital discrimination; HUD has unveiled a streamlined enrollment process for the ACP; and more.

U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers announced a $30.7 million grant to expand broadband services across the most rural parts of the state. Rogers said the infrastructure is a necessary part of building Kentucky’s answer to Silicon Valley.

Federal officials say that Louisiana has completed seven of eight requirements — more than any other state — toward awarding construction contracts that will deliver high-speed Internet.

Programs that subsidize Internet service for schools, libraries and low-income households hang in the balance under litigation by the nonprofit Consumers’ Research, which argues the FCC was not authorized to raise fees on phone calls.

Plus, the Broadband Infrastructure Playbook 3.0 arrives, the NTCA launches a new ad campaign promoting a sustainable Universal Service Fund, and more.

The Superior City Council has voted to create a new broadband utility. Under the plan, the city would provide wholesale access to Internet service providers and the ISPs would provide service to users.

A grant from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute will allow the city of Springfield and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission to study and develop a blueprint to ensure everyone has access to high-speed Internet.

A $14.5 million project to develop a hybrid middle mile/last mile project to Idaho County and the city of Nezperce will bring a long overdue upgrade to Internet services in the north central part of the state.

Plus, advocates applaud federal efforts to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program, Empire State Development announces the members of its Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, and more.

The Center on Reinventing Public Education found just two states have provided official guidance to schools about artificial intelligence so far, and states that delay or decline doing this might face more problems.

The nonprofit Code.org’s new state-by-state analysis of computer science education has good news and bad news: 2023 saw major progress in making it a requirement, but enrollment is not sufficiently high or equitable.

Save for a two-year period during the Obama administration, the Federal Communications Commission has allowed Internet service providers to manipulate data speeds for decades.