Encouraging ubiquitous broadband deployment is an essential part of any strategy to get more and more Americans connected to the Internet. And, of course, Free State Foundation scholars over the years have always had much to say regarding the public policies that encourage deployment.
But encouraging broadband adoption, especially among those segments of the population that lag behind regarding adoption, is an essential part of the "connecting up" strategy. It's fair to say that Comcast's Internet Essentials program has played -- and continues to play --an essential role here.
And today Comcast announced it has now connected more than six million low-income Americans to the Internet through its Internet Essentials program, which is the largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program for low-income families in the U.S. It said it has connected more than two million people in the last year alone, the largest annual increase in the program’s history.
And Comcast also announced it will significantly expand eligibility – for the eleventh time in seven years – to low-income veterans, nearly one million of whom live within the Comcast footprint. According to the United States Census Bureau’s 2016 American Community Survey, less than 70 percent of low-income veterans have Internet access, and about 60 percent own a computer.
Private efforts like the Comcast program -- and others offered by other companies -- are often overlooked. But they shouldn't be. These private companies have invested billions of dollars in efforts to help close remaining "digital divides." This is worthy for acknowledgment -- and thanks.
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