Research

The United States is no stranger to wildfires. These fires can ignite utility poles, melt aerial fiber optic cables, obscure wireless signals, or damage transmitting or receiving equipment. This kind of damage can cut homes off from key public safety resources, and prevent calls for help in the most dire situations. As states now know their share of the $42.5 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, they should begin planning new network deployments and upgrades to withstand increasingly severe natural disasters.

The open access fiber network business model consists of a network operator who builds, manages and owns the fiber network and multiple ISPs who sell wholesale access to the network and resell it to residential and business customers. The ISPs are responsible for all the customer acquisition and support costs/activities, while the network operator is responsible for network operations. This type of shared network model is very popular in Europe largely because regulators have mandated it to level the competitive playing field.

This paper examines how the quality of Internet service from existing providers is affected when voters in Colorado approve referenda eliminating a barrier to their local governments providing broadband service. Using a difference-in-differences framework, the research design exploits variation in the timing of a community’s approval of a referendum in order to examine whether incumbent private providers adjust their speed offerings in response to the signal that public entry is more likely.

How Congress, the federal Executive Branch, state and local governments, and carriers can forestall likely, measurable declines in broadband geographical penetration and subscription rates achieved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, a look at the reforms needed to make ongoing universal service subsidy programs sustainable and more effective in achieving additional progress in bridging the Digital Divide as emergency grant programs wind down.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted case studies in three states and interviewed middle-mile operators, last-mile providers, and state officials. GAO also interviewed federal agency officials, academics, and industry participants. GAO assessed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's NTIA middle mile program documentation against recommended practices related to grants management, duplication, and performance management.

In an era where every click, tap or keystroke leaves a digital trail, Americans remain uneasy and uncertain about their personal data and feel they have little control over how it’s used. This wariness is even ticking up in some areas like government data collection, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted May 15-21, 2023. According to the study, Americans – particularly Republicans – have grown more concerned about how the government uses their data. The public increasingly says they don’t understand what companies are doing with their data.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued its latest report to Congress on protecting older adults, which highlights key trends based on fraud reports by older adults, and the FTC’s multi-pronged efforts to combat the problem through law enforcement actions, rulemaking, and outreach and education programs. The report finds that older adults reported losing more than $1.6 billion to fraud in 2022. The report’s analysis shows that older adults filed the largest number of reports about online frauds—where consumers were first exposed to the fraud via social media, the web, or online ads.

While limited digital skills and lack of access to computing devices are major contributors to the digital divide, experience in places like public housing in New York City demonstrates that these barriers can be overcome when affordable housing operators find ways to provide residents with reliable internet access. Pilot programs in Massachusetts give us a sense of the resources that will be required to furnish high-speed broadband in affordable housing developments.

Roughly 3 billion citizens remain offline, equating to approximately 40 percent of the global population. Therefore, providing Internet connectivity is an essential part of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 9). In this paper, a high-resolution global model is developed to evaluate the necessary investment requirements to achieve affordable universal broadband. The results indicate that approximately $418 billion needs to be mobilized to connect all unconnected citizens globally (targeting 40–50 GB/Month per user with 95 percent reliability).

The Washington State Broadband Office (WSBO) announced the opening of a public comment period for Washington’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) DRAFT Initial Proposal Volume I. The public comment period is open for 30 days, and will close on Nov. 10, 2023. Volume I contains information from four of 20 Initial Proposal requirements.