By Corian Zacher

On December 1, 2023, NCC’s Executive Director, Andy Stutzman, and Senior Policy Counsel, Corian Zacher, joined a roundtable discussion, A Look Ahead to Access and Regulation in the Not-Too-Distant Broadband Future, hosted by the Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado Law School. Following the discussion, Kevin Nguyen and Gabrielle Daley summarized the findings in a Roundtable Outcomes Report. 

From the conversation, Nguyen and Daley distilled three main findings: 

1. BEAD’s deployment programs alone are insufficient to solve digital inequity.

2. Once broadband infrastructure is in place, additional upkeep costs for new networks will require resources dedicated to routine maintenance and cybersecurity services.

3. Effectively closing the digital divide requires additional funding mechanisms beyond congressional appropriations.

Additionally, Nguyen and Daley offered eight recommendations from the discussion: 

1. Partner with community anchor institutions

2. Invest in digital navigators

3. Recognize, define, and deploy equitable devices.

4. Build on existing programs to lower barriers to access.

5. Re-up effective and in-demand programs like the Affordable Connectivity Program (“ACP”).

6. Identify adequate and stable funding for broadband support programs.

7. Support access to both broadband and voice line connections

8. Network maintenance and cybersecurity require ongoing investment.

During the roundtable, Andy Stutzman, NCC’s Executive Director, stated that while “broadband access is great, digital literacy is great, and digital skills are great,” without equitable devices, we cannot genuinely achieve digital equity. Additionally, NCC’s Senior Policy Counsel Corian Zacher discussed the important role that collaboration and community feedback play in middle mile networks. Zacher explained that “several states [including] Kentucky, California, and Massachusetts have all invested in state middle mile networks … partner[ing] with local communities to make sure that there were last connections available before going forward with constructing the network.”

On May 30, 2024, Next Century Cities hosted Working Today for a Connected Tomorrow, where Gabrielle Daley joined Kathy Bisbee from the Alliance for Digital Equity at Baystate Health, and Becca Quon from METRO’s Digital Equity Research Center, for a conversation about the future of affordable broadband, digital equity planning, and critical policy needs. 

The webinar recording is available on Next Century Cities’ Youtube.

Additional Resources

Working Today for a Connected Tomorrow Slides

Silicon Flatirons Roundtable Outcomes Report pdf

We hope you’ll join us for our upcoming Broadband Book Club on July 25, 2024, where Scott Skinner-Thompson will join us to discuss his book Privacy at the Margins and recent article Trans Animus.