Broadband Institute talks digital equity at seminarDate: 9/19/2023 Michael Baldino, director and general counsel for the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, began his introduction on the institute’s municipal digital equity planning program with an encouraging statistic.
“This is just an opportune moment,” Baldino said. “We have to figure out how to spend almost $400 million in federal funding for broadband and digital access.”
MBI officials offered an overview of the program intended to promote digital access and equity for all towns and cities during an online seminar on Sept. 14. The program has two goals, the first to guide municipalities toward improved internet equity. The second goal is to ready officials to submit grants to support full access. The listening session sought to inform municipal officials about the program and its goals, but also to reveal some of the reasons digital access is not equitable.
The lack of a town or citywide broadband network is not the only factor preventing individuals from accessing the internet. Monthly affordability may prevent residents from having access. Lack of a home device able to host the digital cloud is a hindrance in some households. Some users have access and a device, but lack the necessary skills or training to accomplish internet tasks. The equity planning program will help officials address all three compromising factors.
The presenters made it clear that if you don’t have digital equity you may be locked out of daily tasks. Digital access, the ability to participate, is therefore a critical human right. A survey fielded by MBI officials revealed, unfortunately, that many people in the Bay State still do not have the access necessary to participate.
The survey on digital equity drew about 6,000 responses statewide. Twenty-eight percent of respondents reported they don’t have a working device or good access. Twenty-six percent think their internet isn’t sufficient. Fifty-two percent have one broadband provider, with no competitor in the market.
One in three respondents said they have some difficulty paying for internet access. That may be the easiest difficulty to address. A subsidy for access costs is available through the federal Affordable Connectivity Program that enables a $30 monthly rate to qualified individuals.
Douglas Hall, an employee of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, hosted a breakout group of attendees. Hall emphasized when segments of the population are shut out of equitable digital access the efficiency of communication and connection is lost for everyone.
“You’ve got this superhighway, and then you’ve got some people in the ditches, who are getting passed by,” Hall said. “But we realize the importance of being more equitable and that we’re all losing out when anyone loses out.”
John Furey, a participant in Hall’s group and an employee of broadband provider GoNetspeed, was among the speakers. The company recently finished a project in Amherst. Furey offered information on the costs of installing a municipal network, noting that National Grid charges $57,000 per mile just for the electrical equipment for a broadband system.
“I do a lot of town outreach,” Furey said. “The big thing that comes to me from these little towns [is that] everybody hates their current provider and there’s only one choice…The quality of service is terrible and the cost is high.”
The exorbitant expense of building a municipal network may explain why MBI’s new equity planning program will offer support for regional broadband systems, in addition to networks developed by a town or city. Residents often balk at the jumbo cost of bonding for a broadband system. A regional system more widely distributes startup costs and may better run the gamut of public spending limits.
The digital equity planning program features two options for municipalities. Participating towns setting up a local network will consult with a pre-qualified planner to develop a “short term planning charrette”. Architects of a multi-town or larger network will also be assigned a consultant, but the result will be a “Digital Equity Plan” that will last longer and dig deeper into network details.
The program will draft an initial plan during the fall, hold a public comment period in November and December, submit the plan by January and begin grant deployments in 2024. MBI officials also requested that individuals continue to complete a broadband survey, which can be found at broadband.masstech.org.
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