Opinions Mixed on Whether High-Speed Broadband Could Worsen Digital Divide

AT&T’s recently announced expansion of U-verse with GigaPower (CD April 22 p9) fiber to up to 21 additional metropolitan areas hasn’t brought the digital divide criticism, at least among those we interviewed. An AT&T spokesman said initial concerns that U-verse would go to mostly affluent areas have been “allayed.” AT&T deployed the high-speed broadband to diverse neighborhoods when it launched in Austin, Texas, said NAACP Senior Vice President-Advocacy Hilary Shelton: The company has traditionally “shown sensitivity to avoid any hint at redlining.” While others say it’s too early to tell the impact of the two efforts until companies determine where they will deploy, they said there’s reason to be concerned.

"Any time a new technology comes around or a new infrastructure project gets going, there are equity concerns,” said Public Knowledge Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer. “It’s AT&T’s and Google’s responsibility to make sure their investments don’t just favor the well-off.” Unlike for cable, phone and other technologies, which have buildout requirements, deciding where to make high-speed Internet available will rest on companies’ bottom line, said Free Press Research Director Derek Turner. “Concerns low-income and other areas deemed by the provider to be less attractive financially [being left out] are quite real given the absence of any kind of buildout commitment."

Technology officials in several cities being considered for Google Fiber, including Atlanta, Portland, Ore., and San Jose, Calif., said they raised the issue of providing high-speed broadband broadly during meetings with Google officials. San Antonio Chief Technology Officer Hugh Miller sees opportunities with Google Fiber and U-verse. The city is under consideration in both Google and AT&T’s expansion plans. While it is early in the process, San Antonio officials have had internal discussions about creating a fund to buy down the cost of connecting lower-income customers to high-speed broadband, Miller said. The opportunity for people to access online job training or education could be enough of a public benefit to warrant creating a subsidy for high-speed Internet, he said: “We're closer than we've ever been to being able to tackle the issue” of the digital divide.

Concerns were raised about lower-income residents being left out of Google Fiber when it came to Kansas City, Mo., said Michael Liimatta, president of Connecting for Good, offering computer literacy classes and broadband public housing projects there. Google decides where to build fiber if enough residents in a “fiberhood” express interest in getting the service, it’s said. When Kansas City went through the process in 2012, “fiberhoods” on the wealthier side of Troost Ave., a traditional racial dividing line in the city, opted to get the service. Fewer fiberhoods on the lower-income side of the avenue qualified, Liimatta said.

"Back in the day when cable was coming in or telephone was coming in, it was universal. With Google, they run it to households in areas where there is interest,” Liimatta said. In lower-income neighborhoods “there is still an issue of relevance where people don’t see the benefit” of having Internet at home, “and a huge issue of intimidation,” he said. “There are a lot of people who grew up never having seen a computer at home.”

Google Fiber has since changed the process for selecting fiberhoods for deployment, now requiring customers expressing interest to sign contracts for service, said a company spokeswoman. Which fiberhoods get high-speed broadband still depends on whether enough people sign up, she said.

Community groups and a Google Fiber “street team” that scours neighborhoods spreading word of the service stepped up efforts, Liimatta said: More lower-income neighborhoods qualified to get the service. The experience underlined how reaching diverse customers involves going beyond making high-speed Internet available, to having one-on-one interactions to show people its importance, said the Google spokeswoman. “A lot of people just don’t see the Internet as relevant in their lives, or don’t know how to use the Web.” A 2013 Pew Research Internet Project study (http://bit.ly/1rtoJcN) also identified that issue.

Google’s Efforts

Since the early controversy, Google has begun working with local governments and nonprofits on digital inclusion, at times having employees teach Internet literacy classes. In one instance, a woman taking a Spanish-language class asked a Google employee for help researching information on her late mother. “So together they searched her mother’s name -- and found an interview the mother had given years ago, archived by a library,” the spokeswoman said. Google contributes “a significant amount” to the Kansas City Digital Inclusion Fund, which funds computer literacy classes for local nonprofits and community, the spokeswoman said.

Liimatta said Google is having trouble getting people to subscribe. Aside from the relevancy issue, lower-income neighborhoods have more rental, public and Section 8 housing, he said. Landlords, not tenants, have to request the service and pony up the construction fee, said Liimatta. “These are the same people who don’t paint their buildings. They're not going to get high-speed broadband.”

AT&T has a different method of selecting neighborhoods. “We'd like to offer U-verse with GigaPower to as many communities as possible,” said a spokesman. “Our deployment decisions involve several factors such as assessing technical network issues, listening to all communities and learning the amount of consumer demand for this exciting new service.” AT&T and the AT&T Foundation also contribute to digital inclusion programs, the spokesman said, including $37 million since One Economy’s AccessAll initiative in 2006, which among other things provides computer training and free and affordable broadband.

Google will address the digital divide on a case-by-case basis as it considers where to expand, the spokeswoman said. She said it plans to offer the low-cost basic broadband in other markets, and contribute to digital inclusion efforts.