During a pandemic that has magnified inequities for Americans, USC and the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) have partnered to measure internet access in the state based on demographics and location, identify the impact on those lacking access as the world goes digital, and inform […]
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An East L.A. native, USC’s vice president for state government relations has fought for universal broadband access for two decades. The pandemic has brought renewed attention to the issue — one that could make or break California’s future. When Martha Escutia started worrying about the […]
Internet access is something that many took for granted, until the pandemic. Living through COVID-19 has laid bare the unaddressed digital inequities that are impacting millions of lives. The digital divide is becoming a digital chasm: limited or no access to affordable high-speed internet is […]
CETF President and CEO Sunne Wright McPeak urges business leaders and Internet Service Providers to seek sincere public-private partnerships to close the Digital Divide in President Biden’s first term.
This past year has shown that access to the internet has never been more important as remote learning, working and socializing have become a way of life. On this week’s episode of PolicyWise, Demetria Wack and Michael Wiafe welcome Sunne Wright McPeak of the California Emerging [...]
Frontier Communications has agreed to expand its fiber-to-the-premises network and improve its poor service quality as part of a bankruptcy settlement in California. Frontier committed to deploy fiber to 350,000 homes and businesses within six years on a schedule that would require the first 100,000 […]
A new Southern California effort aims to address an inequality spotlighted by the coronavirus pandemic — the digital divide. Inland entrepreneur Steve PonTell and San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman are bringing together leaders in business, government, technology and other fields to find ways to close the […]
For many of us, 2020 will be marked in our collective memory as the year of shelter-in-place, social distancing, and video conferences from home for work, school, and doctor visits. But for the 22 percent of Californian households living without high-speed Internet service at home, […]
Prior to COVID-19, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimated at least 30 million Americans were on the wrong side of the digital divide, and nearly 12 million children are part of “the homework gap” because they do not have access to broadband internet at home. […]
Access to high-performance broadband is a civil rights issue according to Broadband for America Now, a report from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. An initial 2019 report, Broadband for America’s Future: A Vision for the 2020s, was scheduled to be updated this month to reflect […]