Over 100 years of experience
Nearly 34 million people don’t have access to high speed quality internet.
Broadband is an important topic and closing the digital divide is a major issue in America today. FCC reports outline that nearly 34 million people don’t have access to high speed quality internet. With Covid-19, the lack of high-speed internet is even more pronounced with students and schools needing high-speed internet for distance education and medical professionals needing high-speed internet for telehealth and telemedicine applications.
Our broadband team has over 100 years of experience building, designing, and as key senior executives with such firms as AT&T®, Charter®, Ericsson®, and a number of wireless projects and companies.
Under our brand, GETWIREDAMERICA™, we will deploy fixed wireless and fiber to rural, unserved, and underserved areas to help America close the digital divide. What is the digital divide?
“Digital inclusion represents economic inclusion. Yet broadband access and adoption continue to lag behind for certain population segments, including low-income and rural communities. This is referred to as the digital divide—i.e., the gap between people who have access to broadband services and know how to use the internet and those who do not have such access or knowledge. The digital divide leads to further economic, social and political disparities for low-income and underserved populations.” Dallas Federal Reserve Report: Closing The Digital Divide.
Some Impacts of Broadband
Workforce opportunities are hindered when LMI communities lack broadband access. Today, 60–70 percent of jobs are posted online. Nearly 8 in 10 middle-skill jobs in today’s workforce require digital skills, representing 32 percent of all labor market demand in the nation.
Eighty-four percent of the nation’s K–12 teachers report the digital divide is growing in their classrooms due to unequal access to essential learning technology resources at home. (L)ow-income homes with children are four times more likely to be without broadband than their middle or upper-income counterparts.” This is referred to as the “homework gap.”
Based on the trends provided by the FDIC and a recent study by the Federal Reserve System on consumers and mobile financial services, there is a significant shift toward mobile and online banking. A substantial number of the 50 million in unbanked and underbanked persons, need mobile banking.
Investment in affordable housing for LMI communities is a key aspect of community development under the CRA and provides opportunities for banks to partner with local public housing authorities (PHAs) and community housing development organizations (CHDOs) to not only build affordable housing, but to also close the digital divide.
Today, the provisioning of quality health care relies on the use of digital health information and tools. Without broadband access, digital literacy training and technical support, LMI patients are at a disadvantage when it comes to managing their health outcomes in a digital society. In addition, some geographies with broadband access may not have sufficient speeds to accommodate the transmittal of certain data used in telemedicine.
For more information of how we can assist your public-private broadband needs, please email us at GWA@dvfcap.com.