This article suggests eight steps the National Telecommunications and Information Administration should take to make the broadband provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act a success. Those steps include helping states ramp up their broadband offices, hiring personnel skilled in federal broadband grants, and improving coordination between the agencies that support broadband deployment.

‍

This article advocates for states to lobby for the Affordable Connectivity Program to be sustainable beyond its initial funding. Without a sustainable federal framework, the author argues, the states will have to fill the void, which will create fiscal and political challenges.

‍

This podcast episode focuses on how lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic can affect future telehealth policy. The panelists discuss questions related to future telehealth legislation, modernization of the healthcare system, and the need to close the digital divide to ensure the success of telehealth.

This podcast episode examines whether the biggest tech companies—including Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook—have too much control over consumers’ internet usage and too much access to their personal data. The panelists discuss the effectiveness of existing antitrust laws and the FTC’s efforts to combat monopolistic practices.

This resource from May 2021 discusses President Joe Biden's appointment of Vice President Harris to lead the broadband component of his infrastructure plan. The article acknowledges the two core issues that must be resolved for the broadband bill to pass: prioritizing expenditures for unserved areas and moving beyond temporary solutions to address the adoption problem for low-income families.

This resource from the Brookings Institution addresses the broadband accessibility problem faced in rural America and how it was aggravated by the Trump FCC's mismanagement of efforts to connect unserved Americans. The outdated definition of "broadband" was not updated by the Trump FCC, which led to incorrect mapping and data collection.

This resource from the Brookings Institution discusses the benefits and costs of broadband expansion, and the potential for significant economic impact that result from investment into broadband. It argues that while barriers and challenges to expansion exist, increased access and usage of broadband infrastructure in rural areas has the potential to increase property values, job and population growth, and business formation.

This resource considers the expansion of telehealth and digital health to improve health outcomes and equity in America. A key question for the adoption of any of the many modalities comprising digital health is whether they will help patients achieve better health. Digital health may serve as a solution to add efficacy and efficiency of care delivery.

This paper from the Brookings Institution examines how mobile devices with cellular connectivity improve learning and engage students and teachers. As wireless technology can provide new content and facilitate information access, it will enable and empower learning in new ways.

This resource explains the four primary pieces of broadband policy in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and how they can help move America toward its long-held goals of universal broadband access and adoption. Firstly, the largest part of the IIJA's $65 billion is a $42.5 billion appropriation to fund network deployment. Second, the IIJA includes a subsidy for low-income Americans to connect to broadband. Third, the Senate orders the FCC to come up with a plan to reform universal service. Finally, the fourth component provides a surge of funding to address digital training and literacy.

This part of a multi-section series from the Brookings Institution on the American Rescue Plan (ARP) argues that the ARP can address immediate broadband needs while laying the foundation for more durable digital equity and that closing the digital divide begins with this kind of investment, as the digital divide won't go away on its own.