Joshua Breitbart, New York City’s former Deputy Chief Technology, puts the problem of the digital divide differently. This isn’t due to malfeasants, it’s due to a lack of due diligence and accountability.” But it’s squandering a hell-of-a-lot of taxpayer dollars. “If we invest $100 billion and get $30 billion worth of useful projects out it, I’d call that a win. Meinrath also acknowledges that accomplishing something is better than doing nothing. There is no comprehensive national plan, no strategy.” He adds, “In effect, we have a bunch of great programs, a bunch of buckets of funding and a bunch of people in the administration who very much want to do the right thing but are – for the most part – uncoordinated.” “First and foremost,” he warns, “there is a foundational problem in how the Biden administration is approaching these issues. Sascha Meinrath, Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State University, identifies one factor. The new broadband bill will confront a number of critical factors determining whether it will end the digital divide. Costs in North America were the highest, averaging $12.02 in Canada and $12.37 in the U.S. Fees for a gigabyte of data range from $0.26 in India and $0.27 in Kyrgyzstan to $6.66 in the United Kingdom and $6.96 in Germany. 18 th of the 38 OECD countries in terms of broadband usage.Īmericans also pay more than anyone else for their inferior telecom services. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranks the U.S. Of these, 5.1 million homes were in rural areas while 15.3 million homes are non-rural.Ĭompounding this picture, only 32 percent of American homes have access to fiber broadband services compared to Norway and South Korea with over 80 percent access, and Spain, Portugal and Japan that are above 90 percent. Census Bureau’s most recent (2019) American Community Survey (ACS) surveyed3.5 million households and estimated that more than 20.4 million homes had no broadband subscription at home. And the online publications, BroadbandNow, finds that 42 million Americans do not have a broadband access. John Kahan, Microsoft chief data analytics officer, warned that the FCC estimates were “vastly undercounts.” He noted that Microsoft data indicate that almost 162.8 million people “are not using the internet at broadband speeds.” Gigi Sohn, a former FCC attorney and now proposed commissioner, estimated that some 141 million people in the U.S. (The FCC defines “broadband” as 25 Mbps/download and 3 Mbps/upload.) This, however, is a very low estimate. In 2020, the FCC found that 21.3 million Americans didn’t have home access to broadband. Now that it finally passed, will the broadband plan really end the digital divide in America? Sadly, in all likelihood, it will not.Įstimates vary as to the scale of the digital divide in the U.S. Equally troubling, it originally called to “prioritize support for broadband networks owned, operated by, or affiliated with local governments, non-profits, and co-operatives.” This was dropped as was his call to override laws in 18 states that block community broadband. Unfortunately, Biden’s original proposal called for $100 billion for broadband but it was cut to $65 billion. When Biden first proposed his infrastructure plan, he famously proclaimed, “Broadband internet is the new electricity.” And he noted, “Yet, by one definition, more than 30 million Americans live in areas where there is no broadband infrastructure that provides minimally acceptable speeds.” This is what is known as the “digital divide,” the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and online access, and those who do not. Biden’s “Bill Back Better” bill - original priced at $3.5 trillion and now cut to $1.75 trillion –awaits legislative action. On November 5 th, the House finally passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill - a bill originally passed by the Senate in August. Photograph Source: Marcelo Graciolli – CC BY 2.0
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