Tens of millions of Americans are stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide, depriving them of the ability to fully participate in modern society. We believe community-led broadband is the best way to bridge the divide, promote economic prosperity, and improve quality of life – regardless of income or background.
Underinvestment and second-rate service can be found in most cities across the nation, where regional monopoly internet service providers (ISPs) cherry-pick who they will serve, focusing investments in more affluent areas where they expect to reap the biggest (and quickest) profits for shareholders.
It has created a broken broadband market in which households with a good internet connection are more likely to have a choice of ISPs, while economically disadvantaged neighborhoods are left with only one choice: expensive, spotty service, or nothing.
It would be reasonable to think the Biden administration’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, passed by Congress in November 2021, would change all of this. A significant part of the law devotes $65 billion to a moon shot mission, involving all 50 states and U.S. territories, to bridge the digital divide once and for all.
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Report examines some Tribal Nations’ critiques about the Federal Communications Commission’s troubled Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).
In partnership with the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, ILSR publishes new report on how Vermont is supercharging its digital landscape with community broadband.
This report demonstrates how the cost of building universal Internet infrastructure would be quickly recouped by the massive economic returns of wider telehealth access.… Read...
In this report, ILSR's Sean Gonsalves, Christopher Mitchell, and Jericho Casper profile how six community networks stepped up to bring faster and more affordable broadband.