Broadband access and digital divide

It is recognized that there is a disparity between broadband availability in urban and rural areas. The pre-existing telecommunications infrastructure is generally poor and unevenly distributed in favor of urban centers. In most rural areas, low population density and high deployment costs discourage private investments, creating a negative feedback of limited capacity, high prices, and low service demand. Building telecommunications networks in rural areas is costly. Further, in many cases, there is not a good commercial business case for rural deployments. Whereas established and competitive service providers already offer solutions for urban and suburban areas, there is little or no commitment to connect areas that include smaller towns and rural villages. The deployment of access network broadband services on low-competition areas is characterized by low subscriber densities, longer loop lengths, lower duct availability, and consequently higher infrastructure cost compared to high-competition areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Current Status of Contributing Factors to the Digital Divide

This study provides a current examination of the contributing factors to the Digital Divide. Breaking this divide down into three distinctly separate models –home computer ownership, home Internet access, and home broadband Internet access – provides the opportunity to see the effect of numerous independent variables on each aspect of the divide. Data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) for 2000, 2001, and 2003 further provides the opportunity to see if, and how, the divide changes over time. The results show that the divide has decreased with respect to computer ownership and shows little improvement with respect to home internet access. Meanwhile, the results provide no conclusive evidence in any shifts to the digital divide with respect to home broadband Internet access

Broadband Internet Access: Equal Access and Opportunity for All

The internet has become the primary way households gain access to daily services, including education, healthcare, employment resources, and transportation. In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly designated internet access a basic human right. Millions of Americans are living in the digital divide. Low-wage workers, people of color, children, older adults, individuals with disabilities, the less educated, rural residents, and limited English-speaking households are among those most affected by lack of broadband access in Minnesota. Those without access experience social and economic inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the need for broadband access. Minnesota must end the digital divide that limits access and opportunities. Minnesota must invest public resources to create universal access to high speed broadband

The Supply Side of the Digital Divide: Is There Redlining in the Broadband Internet Access Market'

The newest dimension of the Digital Divide is access to broadband (high-speed) Internet service. Using a comprehensive U.S. data set covering all forms of technology (chiefly DSL and cable modem), I look for evidence of redlining, where broadband carriers avoid areas with high concentrations of poor and minority households. There is little evidence of redlining based on income or on black or Hispanic concentration. There is mixed evidence concerning redlining based on Native American or Asian concentration. Other findings: market size, education, Spanish language use, commuting distance, and Bell presence increase access probability; inner city or rural location decreases access probability.

Next Generation Access and Digital Divide: Opposite Sides of the Same Coin?

Geographical averaging of retail and wholesale prices could distort incentives for bypass entry in both the metropolitan and the high-cost areas. The two-instrument approach to universal service support, proposed in (Armstrong, 2001), could enhance efficiency, through competitive and technological neutrality. Alternatively, the industry support to high cost areas could be substituted by redistributive fiscal measures or public subsidies. Using evidence from Italy we suggest that tackling demographic, educational, and income inequalities is necessary, even in low cost areas, to support further broadband penetration. We estimate logistic regressions of Internet and broadband use at home, and show that a substantial increase of broadband penetration is possible in Italy only if specific platforms and applications are made available to older and less educated households. Therefore, a critical mass of services could help reaching the critical mass of users that make Next Generation Access Networks viable. --Infrastructural Digital divide,Cultural Digital Divide,Geographical crosssubsidies,Efficient bypass,Critical mass of services

Fine-grained Patterns of the Digital Divide: Differences of Broadband Access within Finland

Access to the Internet plays a central role in the development of an information society. However, because of the required telecommunications infrastructure is very expensive to build, and telecommunications services are also relatively expensive, there is no sufficient demand for a market-based provision of relevant telecommunication infrastructures in many areas. As a result, some citizens and organisations are left without an (up-to-date) access to the Internet. This gap between social groups with and without access to the Internet, which is also often linked with a lack of motivation to use it, is referred to as Digital Divide. Several governments have implemented programmes aimed at diminishing this Divide, by means of providing access to the Internet in regions where the market does not provide it, and by enhancing the citizens? ?information society? skills and motivation. There are a variety of technologies available for connecting to the Internet. The traditional narrowband means include modem and ISDN. For faster connections in terms of data transfer rate, various broadband technologies have been introduced. Actually, these broadband connections, which usually offer a fixed pricing scheme, are often seen as the embodiment of an information society. Lately, also mobile connections have become a feasible in creating an access to the Internet, as their speed has increased to the level of the traditional modem connection, and their data transfer prices have been reduced. The aim of this paper is to explore spatial patterns and differences in internet access in Finland. Availability of all possible technologies (traditional, broadband and mobile) are investigated in detail. The findings are compared with demographic characteristics of the relevant regions. Not surprisingly, the tentative results support the view that regions with higher population densities have a better access to the Internet. With regard to the debate on the Digital Divide, it is especially interesting to observe that variations in access to the Internet do not follow administrative borders, but are much more fine-grained. Clearly, this has implications for effective and righteous information society policies, and for an evaluation of the effectiveness of such policies. The paper in an outgrowth of the project ?Telecommunications Services and Networks and Territorial Cohesion? funded from the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) programme (see www.espon.lu). Key words: internet access, digital divide, telecommunications infrastructure, spatial differences, ESPON

Visualization of the Digital Divide Among K-12 Students: Open Data, Quantitative Measures, and Policy Implications

Our work utilized a multi-disciplinary approach to assess the digital divide among K-12 students through socio-technical and economic analysis. Results show that access to high-speed internet (broadband) and use continued to be a challenge for children and schools located in disadvantaged communities. Three visualizations were developed to display the digital disparity at the county level across our country and to support decision-making in resource allocation to improve broadband access and utilization

Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide: Federal Assistance Programs

Some policymakers, believing that disparities in broadband access across American society could have adverse economic and social consequences on those left behind, assert that the federal government should play a more active role to avoid a “digital divide” in broadband access. One approach is for the federal government to provide financial assistance to support broadband deployment in underserved areas. Others, however, believe that federal assistance for broadband deployment is not appropriate. Some opponents question the reality of the “digital divide,” and argue that federal intervention in the broadband marketplace would be premature and, in some cases, counterproductive

Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide: Federal Assistance Programs

Some policymakers, believing that disparities in broadband access across American society could have adverse economic and social consequences on those left behind, assert that the federal government should play a more active role to avoid a “digital divide” in broadband access. One approach is for the federal government to provide financial assistance to support broadband deployment in underserved areas. Others, however, believe that federal assistance for broadband deployment is not appropriate. Some opponents question the reality of the “digital divide,” and argue that federal intervention in the broadband marketplace would be premature and, in some cases, counterproductive

Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide: Federal Assistance Programs

Some policymakers, believing that disparities in broadband access across American society could have adverse economic and social consequences on those left behind, assert that the federal government should play a more active role to avoid a “digital divide” in broadband access. One approach is for the federal government to provide financial assistance to support broadband deployment in underserved areas. Others, however, believe that federal assistance for broadband deployment is not appropriate. Some opponents question the reality of the “digital divide,” and argue that federal intervention in the broadband marketplace would be premature and, in some cases, counterproductive